


Blink Once, Twice (What Do You See?)

by Baekbitficfest, xo_thefirst



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, MAMAPowers!AU, Minor Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Starvation, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:30:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 41,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baekbitficfest/pseuds/Baekbitficfest, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xo_thefirst/pseuds/xo_thefirst
Summary: Baekhyun has always had an affinity for the light, with its brightness, its warmth, the way it reflects off of Jongdae in the most beautiful of ways. But then there are shadows, never-ending, dangerous, and there's more to light than he ever thought possible.





	Blink Once, Twice (What Do You See?)

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to leave some lovely comments for the writer!
> 
> Thanks for reading <3

_**Prompt #:** 136 _

_**Title** : Blink Once, Twice (What Do You See?)_  
_**Pairing** : Baekhyun/Chen_  
_**Rating** : NC17_  
_**Summary** : Baekhyun has always had an affinity for the light, with its brightness, its warmth, the way it reflects off of Jongdae in the most beautiful of ways. But then there are shadows, never-ending, dangerous, and there's more to light than he ever thought possible._  
_**Word Count** : 41.2k_  
_**Warnings** : mama powers!au; human experimentation and torture in the forms of alluded starvation, medical injections of unknown substances, and alluded beatings/punishments with unintended side effects of legal blindness and/or other medical conditions; allusions or more to PTSD and/or anxiety (which is minor); minor character deaths; inclusion of china line_  
_**Author's Note** : honestly, this was a journey. to the prompter, i hope you like this at least a little bit. i absolutely fell in love with your prompt and i knew from the beginning it was going to be a wonder ;u; thank you prompter, mods (for putting up with me and being so, so wonderful), and my beta m (for putting up with me period and helping me out with almost every single thing.) you're all the best <3_

 

 

There’s something special about the café hidden on Twelfth Street. It may be the daily specials, where two small mocha cakes are sold for the price of one on Tuesdays, or it may be the quiet company of the workers of the shop, the regular customers who frequent it. It may be the plush seating, sets of furniture that’s considered vintage by a hundred years, or it may be the distinctive handwriting on all the windows and black boards. But to anyone who asks him, he thinks it has to do with the library hidden inside of it, stories upon stories that will never see the light of day unless it’s personally searched for.

There are dark curtains hung throughout the shop, accompanied by small fairy lights, and if anyone else searched as much as he did, they would find the large alcove easily, hidden behind velvet black. It helps to keep the mystery alive, to set it apart from the pastel colors of the front area with its snacks and drinks, and it’s always drawn him back, called to him, every day since he arrived to the city.

It always starts as a rumor, a soft _have you heard about the café on Twelfth Street_ , and it’s always what attracts its regulars in the first place. But what keeps them here, in this hidden café on Twelfth Street, are the ones who sit behind the dark curtains and talk until their voices turn raw, lips twitching because they’ve been crying, smiling, laughing too long. They attract the masses and it’s what’s got him hooked.

 _Human libraries_ have become a thing of the past, present, and future, allowing those who want to listen to stories, to engage and become lost in it. There are always a pair on display, moving to the front to eat a small cake, to drink some warm tea, to prepare for the day, and he searches as he doesn’t find the one he’s looking for. There’s always this one man that’s here, with a small child in his lap and a small crowd around him, because he’s considered one of the most popular books of their decade, their generation. He always has stories of fantasy and imagination, ones that involve science and belief, and he’s the reason he’s drawn to this place so often, if only to hear his voice and listen to whatever he has to say.

And today, today he’s already in the back, hidden by the dark curtains, and he’s surrounded by fairy lights. He looks beautiful underneath them, his eyes sparkling with life that’s becoming increasingly rare nowadays, and he stands there entranced, watching as he speaks to the child, the elderly woman in the seat next to him, because he’s always been captivating.

“For those who are joining us recently,” he continues to say, peering around at his audience, until he settles on him, lips tugging up into a small smile. Warm. “Please take a seat. Relax. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy this story too.”

So, he sits. Between two young children surrounded by their parents and young adults around the same age as him, he sits and listens to this man’s story.

 

 

Small lanterns hang in the doorway of the club, where crimson curtains line the windows and small succulents decorate the edges, and Baekhyun pauses, searches, as he finds a place to sit. There are pairs of velvet plush chairs scattered throughout the floor, where small wooden tables act as connectors for each one, and he hums as he spots a set near the windows, where the sunlight streams in the most and there are succulents to keep him company.

Every fourth day, he visits this place–The Hidden Pearl. He orders a glass of red wine, to match the plush chairs he sits on, and a tray of small sandwiches to help pass the time. He’s wearing his best suit today, where it’s pressed fresh and accentuates all his best lines, and he hopes fixing his hair up isn’t too much, is never too much, when he starts to hear a voice singing throughout the club.

Every fourth day, he visits this place–The Hidden Pearl–to be in the presence of the club’s best singer. His voice is always crisp, refreshing as a soft summer rain, and Baekhyun lets himself drown in it. He closes his eyes and savors the taste of the wine in his mouth, the way the voice soothes his ears and calms his racing mind, and he doesn’t realize time has passed until the singing fades and the stringed instruments and piano take its place instead.

“I didn’t know you’d be visiting today” comes a soft voice, clear and light, as if he’s still singing. Baekhyun can’t help but smile–he always comes on this day, and he knows it. “You look so handsome.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Baekhyun says anyways, opening his eyes to see the singer himself sitting in front of him, already grabbing a small sandwich off the table between them. Today, he’s wearing his Fedora hat with his suit, one that accentuates his sharp cheekbones, and he’s still so very handsome. “Your voice is beautiful, Jongdae.”

The way Jongdae laughs, still so light, airy, is all the reason Baekhyun needs to keep the smile on his face until night falls, when Jongdae is in his arms again and they get lost in each other. “You didn’t have to come all the way here to tell me that,” he murmurs, cheeks tinting a soft pink, and he tilts his head down slightly to hide it with the brim of his hat. “But thank you.”

“Anything for you,” Baekhyun whispers in turn, letting Jongdae reach for his drink for a sip, distracted by the sparkle in his eyes and the way they crinkle when he tries to hide his smile. He doesn’t even realize he’s staring, so lost, so mesmerized by this one man, until he feels something tap his foot. It makes him lean backwards, far enough to be able to peek under the table, to see Jongdae is the one gently knocking his shoe against his.

When he looks back up, Jongdae has a soft smile on his face, the corners of his lips turned up the slightest bit like he’s pleased. “Stop staring,” he mutters anyways, smile widening the littlest bit, before he’s turning to peer out the window, to touch the succulents that line their sill. “You’re so obvious, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun can’t help but laugh, softly, quietly, as he lets Jongdae finish off all that he ordered. It’s not like he was that hungry anyways. “How can I not be?” he confesses, watching as Jongdae flashes him a smile through the window’s reflection, affection, so, _so_ fond. “I’m only dressed like this to impress the most handsome man in the room. Otherwise, I would’ve worn a different, simpler suit.”

“You could’ve worn it at home,” Jongdae whispers, though he doesn’t remove his gaze from the window. “I would’ve been mighty impressed.”

“But then nobody could appreciate my good looks and realize that I may or may not be taken by the most gorgeous person to date.”

This time, Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Oh, please. Stop that.” But he doesn’t look any less pleased. In fact, he looks like he’s glowing, with happiness, maybe with love, and Baekhyun thinks this is probably the best look on him.

“Also,” Baekhyun murmurs, laughing a bit louder this time, but nobody pays them any mind. “I’m pretty sure this suit wouldn’t last any longer than five minutes on me if I just put this on at home.” He adopts a contemplative expression, ignoring Jongdae’s kick to his shin, indignant. “You’ve always loved me in a good suit.”

“All your other suits work their magic just fine,” Jongdae hisses, before he’s yelping when Baekhyun kicks him in return, pouting.

“Hey, I’m more than a suit.”

Jongdae laughs this time, hand coming up to cover his mouth like he’s trying to hide it, and Baekhyun thinks he looks adorable now, always so fascinated, in love, with Jongdae. “Of course you are, love,” Jongdae ends up reassuring with a wide smile, before he’s standing and walking over to Baekhyun’s side of the table. He doesn’t give him a kiss, not out in public like this, but he does place a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, gives it a gentle squeeze. Baekhyun smiles as Jongdae lets him take his hand, sneak in a soft kiss to the inside of his palm, and causes his heart to flutter with the simple gesture, meaning, of it all. “You have pretty fantastic hips too,” he whispers.

Baekhyun gapes, jaw falling open, and he retaliates with a pinch to Jongdae’s hand. It only makes him laugh, pleased and amused, before he walks away and snickers to himself like he’s said the next best thing on the planet. Although in Baekhyun’s defense, Jongdae must have. His hips are _wonderful_.

 

Despite the beauty of the club, Baekhyun finds the comfort and familiarity of his home much more wonderful. He thinks it’s warmer, more inviting, but he also thinks it has to do with the livelihood of his household, the way the shoes are scattered near the front door and there’s a sweater or two draped across the arms of his furniture. They’re signs that someone’s been in here, been living here for a while, and Baekhyun always catches himself smiling when he sees something of Jongdae’s lying about, whether it’s a sock or one of his misplaced hats.

It helps that Jongdae is always around, flitting from one room to the next, because he likes to help clean up whatever scatter is left behind. He’ll wash clothes and fold laundry and Baekhyun has to admit that he likes it more than he should, sneaks up on Jongdae in the laundry room to kiss him senseless against the nearest wall, in the pile of newly dried clothes trying to make its way into a spare basket. He finds it makes Jongdae whine in approval, especially when they make it against the vibrating washer, but he also likes it when Jongdae simply clings onto him, hugging him from the front or the back and instructing Baekhyun on how to wash all their clothes even though he already knows how to do it by now. It’s just an excuse to touch, to speak into the shell of his ear, and Baekhyun always finds himself groaning when Jongdae’s hand sneaks down to palm the front of his pants.

“Laundry will never get done if we keep doing this,” Baekhyun breathes, gasping, when he feels sharp teeth scrape along the curve of his neck. His hips thrust forward, into Jongdae’s teasing hand, and he groans when Jongdae finally unbuttons his slacks, slips a hand inside, and grabs him fully. He’s warm, slick when he runs his hand up and down his cock a couple of times, and Baekhyun finds it harder to breathe when he feels the hard line of Jongdae’s cock pressing against his backside. “Jongdae.”

Jongdae hushes him, lets him move how he wants, and Baekhyun sees stars behind his eyelids when Jongdae tightens his grip, twists his hand, and bites onto his earlobe. It’s never hard enough to hurt, any of it, but it helps bring him to the edge, gives him that little push to moan Jongdae’s name and make him grind his hips onto his from behind.

“Beautiful,” Jongdae groans, his wet hand splaying across Baekhyun’s thigh inside his pants, and Baekhyun gasps when he feels Jongdae’s wet kisses along the back of his neck, along his shoulder wherever he can reach. So, he helps him. He reaches back with a hand over his shoulder, tangles his fingers in the damp strands of Jongdae’s hair, and pulls him around until their mouths meet, a clash of teeth and lips. The spike of pain makes Jongdae whimper and he moans when he stills, pressing himself as close as he can against Baekhyun’s back and rolling his hips to ride out the aftershocks of his orgasm. “My Baekhyunee,” he breathes, pressing soft kisses to his lips, before he’s trailing them along his jaw and to his ear. “I guess we should wash these clothes too.”

Baekhyun laughs then, loud and happy, and it makes his heart soar when he hears Jongdae’s cute laughter too. “My lovely light,” Baekhyun whispers, after they’ve calmed down and deposited their clothes into the wash. They still need a shower, but maybe they can spend a few minutes under the spray kissing, letting the warm water soak into their skin and their love soak into their hearts.

 

Exploring the backyard garden has always been one of their favorite past times. From gardenias to roses, the maze of hedges and plots of soil have every flower imaginable to them. It’s an array of beautiful colors, one that always attracts their attentions wherever they look, but Baekhyun finds that the most beautiful of colors are reflected in Jongdae’s deep brown eyes.

The reds and blues become subdued and Baekhyun has to force himself to look away, especially when Jongdae tugs him forward by their laced fingers to stop by one of the rose bushes feet away from them. It’s easy to pluck one, a simple _snap_ of the stem, and Baekhyun laughs when Jongdae turns to tuck it behind his ear, admiring him for a moment before he smiles, pleased, and continues on his way.

“Which flower do _you_ want behind your ear?” Baekhyun asks, as they pass by tulips and daisies. He sees something in the distance, one that always reminds Baekhyun of Jongdae, and he pulls Jongdae along with him who only hums curiously in return.

Near the back of the garden, purple irises line a small pond. They’re always blooming, always pretty, and Baekhyun thinks it’s the perfect one for Jongdae, who’s always making him smile and feel something more each and every day. “May I?” he asks, crouching down low enough to break a blossom off its stem, before he turns to see Jongdae smiling at him, happy and bright.

“Always,” Jongdae whispers, closing his eyes when Baekhyun reaches out to tuck it behind his ear. It shouldn’t surprise Baekhyun, but he’s mesmerized by how pretty Jongdae looks, closing his eyes and taking in the sun’s rays on his cheeks with the flower behind his ear. He hopes his love is contributing to the beauty of him, only making him happier and stronger each and every day. “Everything is so beautiful,” he murmurs. And when he opens his eyes, it’s to show a different color, a beautiful hazel brown instead of his normal beautiful dark brown. It startles Baekhyun, eyes widening, but then Jongdae blinks again and his eyes are back to normal, now staring at him worried and confused. “Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun takes a moment to stare, to look into Jongdae’s eyes and envision what he saw not moments ago, but all he sees is the dark brown of his irises, the same as it’s always been. “It’s nothing,” he answers, confused. His eyebrows furrow in concern and it’s such a foreign sensation, Baekhyun immediately stops what he’s doing to touch his own forehead with his free hand. “I thought I saw something, but I didn’t.”

Jongdae’s hand reaches out to poke Baekhyun’s forehead as well, still staring at him curiously, yet the gesture warms Baekhyun, makes him smile and instantly lean forward for a chaste kiss. “If you say so,” Jongdae murmurs, taking a moment to stare at him in return, but then he’s taking a step back, turning around to drag Baekhyun around again. “Let’s go get the quilts and blankets,” he says, smiling over his shoulder at him. “Let’s have a picnic out here.”

The flowers are still here. They’re still thriving and growing and Baekhyun watches, as the iris on Jongdae’s ear doesn’t slip the slightest bit. It stays there resolutely and the way Jongdae drags him out of the maze, out of his bubbling thoughts, helps Baekhyun forget about what he saw. “I’m making the sandwiches this time,” Baekhyun finally says, belatedly, making Jongdae laugh in front of him.

“Then that means I’m getting all the stuff to sit on. Make sure you get some drinks too.”

“Like I’ll forget one of the most important necessities for life,” Baekhyun scoffs, yelping when Jongdae suddenly stops and turns, making Baekhyun bump into him on accident. He stares at him, wide-eyed and confused, but Jongdae’s eyes are sparkling with amusement again. It’s such a pretty look on him. “What?”

The corners of Jongdae’s lips tilt up even more, pleased, as he leans in to give Baekhyun another quick kiss on the lips. “I just wanted to tell you I love you.”

Baekhyun’s cheeks heat up at the confession, his mouth breaking out into a wide smile, and he reaches forward to cup Jongdae’s jaw with a hand, leading him back in for another kiss. He feels Jongdae smile into the kiss, feels a sense of longing and warmth, and he gasps when Jongdae licks his bottom lip before pulling away. “Well,” Baekhyun whispers, licking his own lip after, and watches as Jongdae catches the movement with dark eyes. “I love you too.”

“Good,” Jongdae murmurs, stealing another quick kiss from him, before he’s turning back towards the house. The strange behavior makes Baekhyun laugh, trying to catch up to him so he can bring Jongdae’s hand up to his lips, and he loves the sound of Jongdae laughing, because he’s doing something that makes him happy. “Your lips are soft.”

“I would hope so,” Baekhyun laughs, catching Jongdae’s fleeting gaze. “You have a lifetime supply of them.”

Suddenly, Jongdae is tugging Baekhyun forward, past the glass doors that lead to the living room, and Baekhyun has to stumble to try and catch his footing again. He doesn’t necessarily succeed, but he makes it safely to their couch. He lands on the furniture with a soft “oomph” and then he has a lapful of Jongdae with a strong thigh on either side of his hips. Like this, staring up at Jongdae with his dark eyes, he thinks this is a beautiful sight too.

Soft hands slide their way up his chest, to cradle the back of his head and tangle fingers in his hair, and Baekhyun holds his breath as Jongdae leans in close enough to kiss him again. He hovers right out of reach, a centimeter apart, and Baekhyun lets the soft whimper slip past his lips to get him to move. “I’ll never run out of kisses?” Jongdae asks, quietly, soft lips ghosting across Baekhyun’s own. His stare never leaves Baekhyun’s eyes, his nose, his lips, and Baekhyun has to close his eyes to save the image in his mind.

“Never.”

This kiss is electric, heart pounding, and Baekhyun’s pretty sure Jongdae forgets all about his idea of an afternoon picnic in the backyard when he pushes closer, touches more, and releases his first moan since their time in the laundry room.

 

There’s something to be said about the first sunrise of the day, the way the birds outside sing their songs and the bed is filled with warmth. It’s always the perfect amount, where Jongdae has managed to attach himself to Baekhyun’s side, but even then, Baekhyun finds that he doesn’t mind. He can’t bring himself to gently remove Jongdae’s arm from around his waist, his nose where it’s somehow nestled between the back of his shoulder and the pillow he’s laying on. Baekhyun can feel his soft breaths with each exhale and he takes it all in with a soft, pleased hum.

It’s soothing, the way the hazy soft blue of the ceiling above them clears to something prettier, something more calming, with a couple of sleepy blinks, and the way Jongdae’s breathing is rhythmic, almost like a quiet lullaby. It lulls Baekhyun into a hazy dream-like state, one that doesn’t bring him anywhere but here, and he doesn’t think he’d have it any other way.

Time seems to pass by with an irrelevancy. The only indication it’s moving is the amount of light trying to spill through their sheer, silver curtains, and Baekhyun looks over every few moments, smiles when he sees the sun’s rays try to crawl towards them ever closer across the floor. It takes a while, one Baekhyun can’t count, and he only looks over to Jongdae when he starts to feel him move.

There’s a quiet shuffling, where Jongdae is starting to make soft, sniffling sounds, and Baekhyun tries to stifle his laughter as he leans in to gently kiss the top of his crown. He only receives a sleepy, incoherent mumble in response, but it’s enough for him. So, he waits. He waits as Jongdae turns to lie on his back, stretches out his entire body, and keeps his eyes closed as he catches a little more precious sleep. He’s always the last to wake, but Baekhyun never minds when he gets to watch Jongdae, soft and adorable, wake up like this every morning.

“Good morning, love,” Jongdae mumbles anyways, first, because Baekhyun always waits to make sure he’s gotten as much rest as he can.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Baekhyun murmurs in response, voice low, deep, and he watches its effect as Jongdae shivers lightly at his greeting. He smiles, pleased, before he’s rolling onto his own side, just enough to be able to place soft kisses all along Jongdae’s bare shoulder. But it’s strange, when Baekhyun presses a kiss close to Jongdae’s collarbone, because there’s a mark there he’s never seen before, one that’s dark and almost resembles a deep slash. He blinks at it, once, twice, waiting to see if it’s his imagination, but it stays and Jongdae doesn’t even flinch when he presses another kiss directly on top of it.

“I love your kisses,” Jongdae breathes out sleepily, before he’s turning onto his side again. He wiggles in closer, only opening his eyes briefly to find Baekhyun’s own curious ones, and scoots in until he’s pressed directly up against Baekhyun’s chest. “Kiss me more.”

Baekhyun can’t stop the laugh that spills out his lips, the concern for the new mark fading like water in soil, and he forgets about it to focus more on lavishing his boyfriend with the kisses he demands. They end up giggling, laughing all over, and soon enough, Baekhyun finds himself with a Jongdae-sized lump laying right on top of him because he’s warm and he wants all of Baekhyun to himself. “You’re ridiculous,” Baekhyun breathes out, with a fond smile on his face. All he can see is the top of Jongdae’s head from his point of view, but then Jongdae is moving forward, tilting his head up, enough to knock chins with him, and then they’re sharing their morning kiss today. It’s simple, chaste, and Baekhyun doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of it.

“Ridiculous for you,” Jongdae fires back, though his smile is as bright as ever. His eyes sparkle like the sunlight streaming through the sheer curtains and Baekhyun falls in love all over again, can feel himself tilting over the edge when Jongdae kisses the tip of his nose before he’s rolling off to finally sit up in bed.

Jongdae likes to sleep without a shirt on, has always preferred snuggling up close to Baekhyun and the rest of their blankets if he ever gets cold, and Baekhyun can say that he doesn’t mind his decision about it, the sight of it at all. He thinks they make the perfect match anyways, with their body statures combined, and Baekhyun takes his time to admire his boyfriend’s back, the way he moves to stretch some more. He’s memorized every inch of skin on Jongdae by now, has taken his time to map his entire body with his eyes, hands, and lips, yet he finds another dark spot, one that’s larger than the one he found earlier– oh.

Baekhyun sits up in bed at the reminder, taking note of the large pairs of slash marks to Jongdae’s left flank, before he’s looking around his boyfriend to take a glance at his chest. The mark is still there, next to Jongdae’s collarbone, and Baekhyun can’t help but reach out and touch, to see what it feels like under his fingertips instead of his lips. His actions easily catch Jongdae’s attention, but he doesn’t say anything as he lets him do as he pleases.

There’s a moment of silence as Baekhyun traces the mark on his collarbone, before he’s switching to his back to do the same, and Baekhyun can hear the question before it’s even spoken, can see the way Jongdae takes in a breath to ready himself for it. “What are you doing, Baek?” comes the quiet whisper, curious, confused.

Baekhyun removes his gaze from the blemishes on Jongdae’s body, blinks once, twice, and watches as the marks completely disappear from view. “Have you always had these marks on your skin?” There’s nothing to point at anymore, but Baekhyun knows what he saw, despite feeling no difference on his skin, and points to the designated locations only to see Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“What marks?”

“They looked dark,” he tries to explain, becoming confused himself. “As if you were,” he trails off, now uncertain with the words he’s trying to find, to say. “The marks looked strange, but they’re not there anymore. Maybe I was seeing things.”

When Baekhyun looks back up to Jongdae, he’s still looking at him confused, but he’s also trying to see if there really are marks on his skin he hasn’t seen before. “You’ve seen every inch of me, Baek,” he answers, reaching a hand back to try and touch the area Baekhyun pointed on him earlier. “If you say I have a dark mark, then I probably do? I haven’t noticed any though. I don’t feel any different.”

 _Well, that’s strange_ , Baekhyun wants to say, but he doesn’t. He simply stares at his boyfriend’s body longer, trying to blink the images of dark marks back into his vision, but nothing comes back. Everything appears the same and it isn’t until they remember about food, how it’s a necessity for life, that they climb out of bed together with Baekhyun chasing Jongdae’s back with his fingers.

“Let’s make pancakes, yeah?” Jongdae is looking over his shoulder at him, eyebrows raised curiously. Baekhyun smiles when Jongdae pushes back into his fingers, subtly asking for him to press harder, leave lingering touches for later.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agrees, gasping, when Jongdae spins into his arms and ducks to press a kiss to his neck, before another, and another. They feel soft, fleeting, like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings against his fingertips, and he can’t help the gooseflesh that rises on his skin, the set of giggles that escape his mouth, because of it. Jongdae is the definition of soft and gentle when it comes to him and Baekhyun believes Jongdae himself is a guaranteed distraction from anything else around them.

But then he sees a glimpse of hazel eyes, the long discolored mark along his left collarbone, and Baekhyun finds himself thinking about the irregularities all throughout breakfast. He’s quieter than normal, staring a bit longer at Jongdae to see anything else abnormal, but all he sees is warm, dark brown eyes and a curious gaze every time Baekhyun unconsciously reaches forward with his foot to gently tap it along Jongdae’s toes. He feels like he’s playing the piano this way, a way to keep his mind from wandering too far away with his thoughts, and he appreciates it when Jongdae starts to hum a tune once he’s finished with his food.

Music tends to create a soothing atmosphere for them, one where they’re able to think and revel in the presence of each other, and the song Jongdae’s singing is one Baekhyun hasn’t heard of before. It’s light and airy, almost reminiscent of his laughter, and it makes Baekhyun’s heart light, his stomach flutter, and not because of the food they’re eating.

He smiles, then, when Jongdae is the first to stand. He takes his empty plate with him to the sink, along with the dirty dishes, and Baekhyun takes a moment to stare at him, lean on his chin with his elbow on the table because Jongdae is singing softly now and everything Baekhyun has ever wanted in his life partner. It’s picture perfect and he laughs when Jongdae turns to him, gives him an appraising stare in return, and sticks his tongue out at him playfully. “Stop staring and come help me with the dishes.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun says, even as he sticks his tongue out back at him. He stands and grabs the rest of the dishes, to bring them to Jongdae, before returning for the empty glasses. There isn’t much else for him to do besides let the dishes dry in the adjacent rack, but he finds a comfortable spot clinging onto Jongdae from behind with his arms wrapped around his slim waist. He takes residence with his cheek pressed against Jongdae’s shoulder and his boyfriend lets him stay there, allows him to close his eyes and listen for the rhythmic clinks along with the softly sung song.

 

“Courtesy of the star,” someone greets, as a glass of red wine is placed in front of Baekhyun on the wooden table. He looks up, a bit confused, to see a handsome man with kind eyes and thick lips giving him a small smile. The man tilts his head towards the stage, where Jongdae is still singing, and Baekhyun stifles a gasp from escaping when Jongdae suddenly winks at him.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun murmurs, trying to indiscreetly glare at the other, before looking up to the foreign man. “You must’ve gotten the wrong table.”

The man’s chuckle is soft yet deep. “You mustn’t worry,” he says, reassures with a slight bow. “The staff members here have no judgments. Jongdae has trusted me, especially.”

That catches Baekhyun’s attention, glancing over at Jongdae again to see he’s singing with his eyes closed now. None of the staff members have personally come up to him except to deliver his chosen foods and drinks, yet here’s this one man having a type of conversation with him. When he looks back to him, he’s still staring at him, with sparkles of amusement in his eyes. He chances a glance to his nametag, on his left breast pocket. “Well, thank you, Jongin,” he whispers, watching carefully, as another flicker of emotion passes over his face, one that seems sadder, maybe even worried.

“Of course, sir,” Jongin says brightly, a complete contrast to that brief moment. His smile is charming. “If you would like to request anything else, please let me know.”

When Jongin turns to leave, Baekhyun catches something else that’s different. His gaze travels down, past the club’s standard uniform top and trousers, and he sees something foreign on the man’s feet. They resemble rubber-soled shoes with a canvas top, but they appear well made, well worn. The design is different than their typical style in shops, but with a blink, once, twice, they’re back to leather dress shoes, ones standard for work in The Hidden Pearl.

Baekhyun doesn’t even realize he’s been staring at this strange employee for so long until he hears the scrape of the plush chair’s legs across from him. It’s the telltale sign of Jongdae joining him for his break and he tunes into the stringed instruments and piano filling the club with their harmonies.

“What are you looking at?” Jongdae asks curiously, grabbing a sandwich from the tray between them. It startles Baekhyun, because he doesn’t remember ordering anything else in the first place. “This particular brand of red wine is splendid.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know. He hasn’t tried it yet, but here Jongdae is already taking the glass from his side of the table to try a sip of it. He doesn’t remember seeing anybody else pass by his usual table. “It has a distinct taste to it,” he says anyways, hearing Jongdae’s hum of approval. He still looks handsome in his suit, though he chose to leave his hat at home this time.

“Yes, but it goes well with the sandwiches.”

Well, Baekhyun doesn’t know that either. He hasn’t tried anything since he’s arrived and he chances a glance over to the bar, where he can see Jongin talking to the bartender about something before laughing and walking towards the back. He disappears after that and Baekhyun feels foreign, like he isn’t entirely sure what’s going on. “I haven’t tried the sandwiches yet,” he answers in turn, looking back over to Jongdae who’s giving him a concerned look. _Concerned?_

“You haven’t?” Jongdae finishes the one he’s holding, small enough to be considered an appetizer, and stares at the tray in front of them, quietly counting what’s left. “But… Three are missing, including the one I’ve eaten.”

Turning back to the tray, Baekhyun repeats Jongdae’s actions. He counts what’s left, finds that three are missing along with the one Jongdae recently ate, and he instantly reaches up to feel his lips. He touches his bottom one before tracing it to the corner of his mouth. There aren’t any crumbs found like usual and he looks to Jongdae, confused. “I don’t think I ate any,” he murmurs, licking his lips after to see if he can taste any remnants left. “I didn’t even see it get delivered here.”

Jongdae looks as confused as he feels, but then he’s standing up, taking another sip of the wine between them, before he’s walking over to Baekhyun again to lay a hand on his shoulder. Instinctively, Baekhyun reaches for his hand and turns it the slightest bit to press a kiss against the palm. He smiles into it, briefly, before he’s letting go and looking up to see Jongdae smiling down at him, all soft and fond. “I love you,” he mouths, before he’s walking away to return to the stage. He passes by Jongin, but he doesn’t even stop, doesn’t turn his head to greet him even though Jongin does, and Baekhyun stares after them confused.

It’s like Jongdae didn’t even see Jongin at all.

 

Cleaning the living room is a bit different from taking care of the laundry. They take the time to vacuum and dust all the open spaces before getting into the harder-to-reach spots with a rag. They take the time to grab all the discarded and misplaced jackets and socks to toss into the laundry basket and they take the time to fold the newly cleaned clothes they haven’t gotten to yet. They take their time doing the household chores because they always tend to get distracted by each other, the way Baekhyun suddenly sings and Jongdae sneaks in kisses along his neck. It isn’t much, but it’s enough to them and Baekhyun smiles as he tries to retaliate, pinning Jongdae along the kitchen counter as he ducks and kisses along Jongdae’s neck instead.

The effect is immediate. Jongdae laughs, light and airy, trying to shrug Baekhyun off of him and away from where he’s ticklish, but with one nip, two, Jongdae is gasping instead. It pleases Baekhyun more than he’d expect, but he backs away when Jongdae whimpers. His grips on his arms loosen and Baekhyun takes a step back, eyeing his boyfriend carefully. Jongdae’s cheeks are flushed pink, his gaze dark and heavy, and Baekhyun moves to apologize, to back away even more, but then Jongdae is reaching out and grabbing his hand. He tugs him back, right up against him, and Baekhyun groans when lips meet his and Jongdae starts rutting his hips up against his thigh.

“Don’t stop now,” Jongdae whines, gasping when Baekhyun pushes into his space more, caging him in his arms. Sometimes, Baekhyun forgets Jongdae loves it when he takes control, is more aggressive with his kisses than usual, and it takes his breath away when Jongdae quickly breaks the kiss to moan out into the air around them.

Jongdae is so attractive, Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do with himself except to try and bring as much pleasure as he can to his boyfriend. He reaches up with a hand to tangle fingers in Jongdae’s hair, tugging his head back until a broken moan escapes his mouth, and Baekhyun takes his time marking up Jongdae’s neck, leaving little kisses and nips because it makes Jongdae move more against him, rutting his hips frantically until he suddenly stills with a long moan spilling from his lips.

Gently, Baekhyun removes his hand from Jongdae’s hair. He tries to back off the slightest bit, hoping to give Jongdae some of his personal space back, but he groans instead when a hand sneaks its way down to the front of his pants. He tries to move away, wanting to carry Jongdae to their bedroom instead, but Jongdae averts all of his attention until he’s tugging Baekhyun back to him and kissing him until he runs out of breath. It’s strange, but Baekhyun can feel all of Jongdae’s love for him in this one kiss.

“I love you,” Baekhyun whispers, breaking the kiss long enough to search Jongdae’s eyes. He looks sleepy, sated, and all Baekhyun wants is to make him happy. He blinks once, twice, and sees hazel eyes once more before he blinks again and they’re gone. “I love you, Jongdae.”

Jongdae hums, pleased, and kisses him once more. “I love you too, Baekhyun.”

 

The orange and blue hues of the sky are darkening by the time Baekhyun and Jongdae make it out to the backyard. The sun is setting and the stars are coming out from hiding, but it only seems to make the colors of the flowers, the roses, gardenias, and lilies, illuminate more in front of them. It looks beautiful, picture perfect, but nothing can compare to the awe on Jongdae’s face. The natural beauty that’s there, right next to Baekhyun, he can’t help but tug Jongdae back to him when he starts to walk ahead. He pulls him into a hug, nosing his way across a high cheekbone to kiss his lips, and he smiles when Jongdae starts to laugh into the kiss. He’s essentially kissing teeth, but he gets to feel Jongdae’s laughter up close, the way he calms down long enough to give him a full kiss back.

“I’m sure the plants are waiting to be fed,” Jongdae murmurs, in-between kisses, because Baekhyun really can’t get enough of his love. He’s still smiling though, trying to stifle his laughter, and Baekhyun smiles with him. “Come on, Baek. You said I have a lifetime supply of kisses from you, right?”

“Well,” Baekhyun hums, pulling away far enough to kiss the tip of Jongdae’s nose. “Do I have a lifetime supply of kisses from _you_? This could be my very last kiss from you.”

Those words leaving his mouth sound strange, like it’s something Baekhyun doesn’t say very often, but Jongdae doesn’t look the least bit different about it. He’s still smiling, staring into his eyes with affection Baekhyun can drown in, and everything about this situation is starting to feel… strange.

“Of course you have a lifetime supply of kisses from me,” Jongdae says, kissing him once, twice, more on the lips before he’s pulling away to grab a watering can. There are two they have to constantly fill up to feed the entire garden, but they’ve always thought it’s better this way. They get to pay more attention to each flower, each bush and shrub, they come across, but they also get to spend more time with each other and the fresh air of nature around them. It allows them to admire the beauty around them, but Baekhyun doesn’t have to keep repeating it to himself, that Jongdae is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

So, he tries to stop saying it to himself, if only for a moment, because Jongdae is holding out the second watering can for him to take. He reaches for it, carries it with ease, and he follows his boyfriend’s lead to start watering the roses closest to them.

They’re all blooming red and pink and white. Baekhyun sings to fill in the silence and it doesn’t take long for Jongdae to follow suit. He can hear his humming underneath the tone of his voice, and he reaches out for a rose, so he can pluck it and stick it behind Jongdae’s ear because that’s what they always do. He grabs the prettiest one he can find before he realizes there’s something sharp on it. It pushes into his finger, causing a sharp sensation to shoot up his hand, and he yelps as he quickly lets go of it.

There’s nothing on his fingers when he searches. He can hear Jongdae calling for him, before he’s joining him, but he feels like he can’t pay attention to him when he feels something wet and warm pooling on the tips of his fingers. It’s a strange sensation, one he’s never really felt before, but he doesn’t see anything there. It confuses him.

“Baekhyun? What happened?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun answers quietly, still staring at his fingers. Nothing. “I accidentally hit my finger against the watering can.”

It’s reassuring to see the genuine confusion on Jongdae’s face, because that explanation didn’t make sense at all, now that Baekhyun thinks about it. He frowns, as he turns to look at his boyfriend, and he can see more marks, dark blue in color, all along Jongdae’s cheeks. It frightens Baekhyun, eyes widening in surprise, and he pulls Jongdae to him. He tugs him into a hug, because he doesn’t know what else to do.

“Baekhyun?” Jongdae gasps, a hand coming up to rest against Baekhyun’s waist. “What–”

When Baekhyun pushes him slightly, to get another look at Jongdae’s face, all the marks are gone. His skin is clear and his eyes are shining with confusion and concern. Baekhyun doesn’t understand what’s going on anymore, but this is the Jongdae he wants to protect, from whatever is happening. He wants to protect–

Suddenly, there’s someone trying to peek at them from behind their wooden fence. It looks like the person is jumping continuously trying to see over it, waving a hand in the air to get his attention, and Baekhyun stares long enough to recognize Jongin from The Hidden Pearl.

“Baekhyun!” Jongin yells, making everything still around him. Even Jongdae in his arms, he doesn’t pull away with the shout. His expression doesn’t change and it doesn’t even feel like he’s breathing anymore. “Baekhyun! Wake–”

Baekhyun stares at him, still jumping, still trying to get his attention, confused. “Wake,” he murmurs, echoes, because he doesn’t understand what he’s trying to say. “Wake?”

“Wake up!”

Blinking once, twice, Baekhyun wakes up.

 

Black. All Baekhyun can see is darkness around him. He can’t see the rising sun or see Jongdae’s sleeping face, but he can hear hushed whispers in the distance and can hear muffled groans of something that doesn’t sound like pleasure. It sounds like muffled groans of pain and Baekhyun immediately understands the feeling when he tries to move, to lift a single finger, and feels like crying when all it does is make his body ache all over. He can’t see anything, can hear disembodied voices, but then he feels hands skate up his chest and someone leaning in close to him, close enough to whisper in his ear.

“I’m about to feed you energy,” the voice says. It’s soft, barely audible against the pain Baekhyun feels in his entire body, but then something clicks when he feels a soothing warmth enter his chest. “Block out the cameras in the corners again.”

In an instant, a surge of energy goes through Baekhyun. It flows from his chest to the rest of his body, filling him from the inside out, and it takes a moment for him to focus, to find the cameras in the corners of the room and pretend he’s blocking them out. It surprises him when four balls of light shoot out of him and hover in front of each lens, casting a soft, golden glow into the room and lighting it up, and Baekhyun listens as the voice next to him says, “Now, Sehun.”

A breeze enters the room, soothing Baekhyun’s body from the warmth enveloping it, and he winces when the breeze rises to the top to create small gusts of wind next to each camera. He watches as it circles the balls of light, creating something so simple yet so beautiful, and his eyes widen in realization when he can hear a high pitch frequency fill the room.

“Baekhyun, can you steady your lights? Keep them on for as long as they’ll allow us in here,” the voice says, a little louder, a little breathier. The voice sounds tired and when Baekhyun concentrates hard enough to drop his gaze, allowing the balls of light to stay in front of the cameras, he gasps at the sight next to him.

The voice belongs to a man who’s as pale as the grey walls in the room. There are dark circles underneath his eyes, hair as ashy as can be, but the warmth in his eyes is the same as the warmth Baekhyun felt in his body. His cheeks are hollowed, almost as if he hasn’t eaten in a while, but there’s a telltale dimple in his cheek when he gives him a small smile.

“Welcome back, Baekhyun,” someone else says, and Baekhyun turns, whipping his head to the side to see Jongin sitting against a wall. He’s slumped against it, bearing somebody’s weight against his side, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen when he sees it’s Jongdae. “It took a while for me to find you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t understand. All he can focus on is Jongdae, with his eyes closed and breathing uneven, and he looks _beaten up_. “What,” Baekhyun breathes, struggling to roll over, to push up so he can crawl towards them. He doesn’t understand why everything _hurts_. Why is it a struggle?

“So, he doesn’t remember,” somebody else says, and this time, when Baekhyun finally looks around the room, to see what in the world is going on, he counts six other people in the room. All of them are in varying states of distress, all different shades of blue, black, and grey, and Baekhyun’s heart slams into his chest when he realizes he barely recognizes any of them except for Jongdae and Jongin. “Baekhyun,” the same person calls, alerting his attention to a man slumped into the corner of the room. His eyes are dark and his hair is matted down, like he’s been exerting himself way too much and no longer has the energy to move. “I’m Kyungsoo.” He glances over to the man who gave him energy, now hunched over another man lying on the ground with his eyes closed. “Yixing and the one on the ground is Han.” He glances to the opposite corner, where a man sits with his lips pursed and staring up at the ceiling hard. “Sehun.”

“He was deep into his own mind,” Jongin explains quietly, sighing softly, as he leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. Next to him, Jongdae doesn’t move at all and it worries Baekhyun. Why isn’t he moving?

“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun asks, wincing at how hoarse his own voice sounds. He crawls the last few feet, panting by the time he makes it to Jongdae’s side, and the worry and panic in Baekhyun’s chest explodes when he catches sight of blue and black all along Jongdae’s cheekbone. “What happened?” He’s scared to touch him, but Jongin nudges Jongdae, gently, until Baekhyun can sit back and catch him in his arms. “Why is he so light?”

The expression on Jongin’s face changes, as does the atmosphere in the room, but then they hear a couple of gasps before whispers of Yixing’s name escapes Kyungsoo’s lips. When Baekhyun turns around, Lu Han is now awake but Yixing is in his arms, paler than the walls in the room. “Don’t die, Yixing,” Kyungsoo mutters, groans, as he moves from his spot, crawling until Lu Han can transfer Yixing into his arms. “Yixing.”

There’s a soft gurgle, as if Yixing is trying to spit something up, and Baekhyun’s heart clenches when Kyungsoo only pulls him closer, enveloping Yixing in a hug that looks entirely too protective, too intimate for a place as dark as this. Then Kyungsoo kisses him, gently on the forehead, like anything much harder than that will break him. Baekhyun thinks anything will at this point.

“They’re about to take us back,” Sehun mutters, still glaring up at the ceiling, and Baekhyun starts to panic, the balls of light in the corners of the room burning brighter with his uncontrolled emotions. “In five minutes.”

“Sleep as much as you can. Okay, Yixing?” Baekhyun can hear Kyungsoo murmur, soft and gentle, like how Baekhyun talked to Jongdae in his dreams. “Please, don’t die without me.”

“Jongdae is still alive,” Jongin suddenly whispers, catching Baekhyun’s attention. He turns to him with wide eyes, feeling more alive than when he first woke up, and he doesn’t understand. “He says you hide in your mind when it becomes too much. He says you’re the key to getting us out, but he won’t tell us how or why. He just keeps telling us you need to stay alive.”

Baekhyun can hear someone coughing behind them, can hear grunting in exertion, but he can’t look away from Jongin, can’t forget the feeling of how light Jongdae is in his arms.

“They think your power is trivial, but we’re slowly understanding that it’s anything but,” Jongin continues to explain. His smile is small, tired, and Baekhyun can see pieces of Jongin disappearing before reappearing in place. “We’ve already lost so many of us, Baekhyun. It’s selfish, but hurry up. Get us out of here.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know how long they’ve been in here or how long they’ve been in this state, but he takes the chance that he does have. He reaches up to smooth the hair back from Jongdae’s face, to wipe the sweat that’s cooling off of his forehead. He traces his cheekbones, before his lips, and Baekhyun’s heart skips a beat when Jongdae’s bottom lip twitches and his eyelids flutter but ultimately don’t open. He repeats his actions, to receive nothing in return, and he feels confusion and longing swirl in his gut. “Jongdae?” he calls quietly, unsure, because this Jongdae isn’t the one he remembers. He remembers bright smiles and tight hugs and soft kisses. He doesn’t remember sunken cheeks, dark eyes, and cracked lips.

“Kiss him,” Kyungsoo suddenly says, startling him the slightest bit. He forgets it’s no longer the two of them, alone. “You never know when it’s the last.”

“One minute,” Sehun warns, finally looking away from the ceiling to stare at them. His eyes are pale, irises barely visible, and that startles Baekhyun almost as much as the distressed state everyone is in.

So, Baekhyun takes his chance and leaves a soft kiss on Jongdae’s lips. There’s no push against his, no reception, and he leaves one more before kissing his forehead. Jongin reaches out then, to guide Jongdae back to lean against him, and Baekhyun stares at him confused before a gust of wind attacks him. It makes him lose his concentration, all the lights in the room disappearing, and suddenly, the wall nearest to Sehun dislodges.

A crease appears in the form of a large entranceway, falling and disappearing into the ground, and Baekhyun panics when he sees men in black gear storm the small room. They grab Sehun first, the one closest to them, and Baekhyun wants to scream when he hears the other yelp in pain. It happens in succession after that, dragging Lu Han off the floor before Kyungsoo, leaving Yixing lying in the middle of the ground, and Baekhyun panics when they bypass him to grab Jongin and Jongdae next.

He fights for them. He grabs onto one of the man’s arms, trying to tug him away, but then the man punches him, making him fall back onto the ground. He doesn’t have the strength to keep it up, wincing when his cheek throbs in pain, and he gasps when one man grabs him from the floor and drags him out.

The hallway is bright, filled with fluorescent lights that blind his vision, and Baekhyun watches as a stretcher flies past them to go into the room they’re leaving. The man’s grip on his arm is tight, unyielding, and Baekhyun searches for the others to find they’re nowhere in sight.

Multiple doors line the hallways they’re taking. Each one of them has a number outside of it and Baekhyun tries to catch a glimpse of what’s inside each one. There are numbers in sequential order from sixty to seventy in one hallway and he stares when a woman in white leaves a room, completely unharmed and appearing healthy. She has a wet towel, partially covered in blood, and he startles with a realization that room is empty. It’s empty but it has blood in it and it can’t be hers.

“Received,” the man holding him says, making Baekhyun look up at him with a speed he didn’t know he had. The man doesn’t say anything else, but it doesn’t matter. Baekhyun can’t see the man’s expression behind the full dark mask anyways.

Nothing is said between them, but Baekhyun catches glimpses of other hallways. Some have multiple doors like the other corridor and others only have one or two. What surprises Baekhyun is that he’s being dragged away, down a separate hallway where there are wide glass windows for easy viewing inside the room. He sees Kyungsoo in one, strapped up to a board and hooked up to some small bag, and he catches his gaze when he’s dragged past. There’s sympathy, an expression of worry in his eyes, but it disappears as fast as it comes when the fluid in the bag finally reaches his arm and he starts trying to fight against his bonds.

The window ends and Baekhyun watches as another person, a woman, is hooked up the same way Kyungsoo was, two rooms over. She doesn’t have much energy in her left, but when she looks up, tries one last attempt to fight off the women in white holding her down, they catch each other’s gazes and Baekhyun remembers her, remembers a young girl named Seulgi who has a skill similar to his but not quite identical. Her eyes are tired but there are no ill feelings in them. No remorse, no hatred. She disappears from view before Baekhyun can see them hook her up too.

By the time they reach a room at that end, where Baekhyun is isolated from the rest, he’s thrown into it. He stumbles from the force, falling to his knees, and Baekhyun quickly searches around him, ignores the sharp pain that shoots up his legs, and finds more women in white waiting for him in the corners of the room. They have protective gear over their faces, translucent and shaded pink, and Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do except focus. He focuses on blinding their eyes, allowing him some time to think and escape, and he yelps when the man from before forces him to stand.

“Your monster doesn’t work here,” the man says, gruffly, shoving Baekhyun towards the board similar to Kyungsoo’s, where his arms will be outstretched and bound by the forearms. “You know the drill.”

Except Baekhyun doesn’t.

He struggles against the man’s grip on him. It’s tight, restricting, and Baekhyun feels weak, small, even though they’re no more than a centimeter difference in height. The women in the corners don’t move–they don’t even seem to blink–and Baekhyun can’t even begin to comprehend why they’re in there until the man turns him, forcing him back against the board. Baekhyun’s head hits against the board, stiff, unrelenting, and he gasps when the man goes for his throat next. It cuts off all his air, making it impossible to breathe, and he doesn’t have the strength to fight him when the women finally move and come forward.

They easily grab his arms, one on either side of him, and strap him to the device. They’re deceivingly strong–or maybe Baekhyun is knowingly drained–and he manages to land a kick to the man in front of him, making him lose his grip and stumble away from him.

The man is clearly surprised, as are the female workers, but Baekhyun is too busy focused on trying to get out of the leather straps to see the man lunge forward and punch him in the stomach. It knocks the wind out of him, the hit to his face makes his jaw ache more than it should, and he doesn’t know whether to thank the women for stopping the man from attacking him again or not.

“Do whatever you need,” the man eventually grunts out, before he’s leaving the room without another word.

The glass doors slide close behind him and all Baekhyun can do is watch. He watches as the women continue to stare at him, _analyzing him_ , and he fidgets under their gaze. It feels like minutes, hours, has passed and when the one on his left finally moves, it’s to take a step closer to him, to cup the cheek that still throbs from the punch the man delivered earlier. It’s gentle, unassuming, and Baekhyun almost relaxes with the comforting gesture.

“Strange,” the woman murmurs, coming in closer, and Baekhyun finds he can’t focus on her at all. He can’t focus to bring that light out he knows is churning inside his body and his heart. “That one continues to heal you the most, yet there is no clear reason why.”

Images of Yixing, pale, gaunt, and so empty of life, fill Baekhyun’s mind. He sees the way Kyungsoo held him when he collapsed, the way Lu Han looked so defeated, and how pale Sehun’s eyes were when they stared right back at him. He winces when the woman’s thumb gently caresses his cheekbone, causing a small, stinging pain, to flow across his cheek.

“The one who controls light,” she murmurs once more, before Baekhyun feels hands gripping his right leg. Her smiles is small but it’s unnerving, eerie, and Baekhyun tries to kick out with his other leg only to find that it’s already strapped to the board. “It’s too late now.”

“Isn’t it strange how he seems to not remember?” the other woman asks, walking away to somewhere Baekhyun can’t see, behind him. It frightens him how calm they are and he can’t hear what’s going on through the rush of blood in his ears.

His heart is beating fast, the woman in front of him checking his pulse with two fingers to his neck, and he can’t help but swallow nervously, trying to gain some semblance of control over the situation. He can’t hear Kyungsoo, can’t remember how to use his supposed power for the life of him, and he can’t figure out what the hell is going on.

He jumps when he feels something soft touch his arm, when hands touch his waist and lifts his shirt up high enough to hook small stickers and wires all over his chest. Looking over, he sees it’s one of the women, the one who wasn’t touching him before, and hones his vision on the small needle in her hand. She’s not wearing gloves but the sharp scent of alcohol fills the air easily enough as she takes a small ball of cotton and wipes it over the inside of his right elbow.

It nauseates him. It coats the insides of his nostrils, slowly filling his lungs with the retched smell, and Baekhyun has to look away when she finally sticks him. It’s a simple pinch, a sharp sting, but then something is being taped over it and he remembers the way Kyungsoo had fought. The fear of something unknown entering his body overpowers the nausea building up inside of him and he realizes, belatedly, that he probably doesn’t have anything to throw up.

“Let’s see if this mixture does the trick,” one of the women says, hooking a bag full of green liquid up to his arm. It hangs on a metal pole, much like those in hospitals, and Baekhyun swears time slows down as he watches it drip into the small vial before flowing through the tube into him.

A cooling sensation pools into his arm before it radiates outwards and Baekhyun starts to wonder if pain is really this sweet, this calming. It lulls him into a daze, one that’s soothing and unassuming, and as he watches the liquid flow into him steadily, he wonders what its purpose is. He flexes his fingers in thought, as he continues to eye it, and he turns to the women curiously, words on the tip of his tongue. He doesn’t get to say anything though, words falling back down into the pit of his stomach, because there’s a stinging sensation shooting through his arm instead. It feels like sparks, the beginnings of a fire on paper, on wood, and then it spreads.

The stinging turns into a burn, one that Baekhyun can’t forget, and he remembers with a clarity that this isn’t the first time he’s experienced such a pain. He doesn’t even realize his mouth opens, to let out a scream that’s been building in the back of his throat, and he thrashes against the leather straps keeping him bound.

The women in front of him don’t do anything. They merely watch him and if Baekhyun were calmer, more relaxed, he would question why they watch him like he’s an animal, being used for their total amusement. He can’t even hear them speak, over the thudding in his ears, the fire spreading through his veins, and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he blacks out.

 

Jongdae’s voice has always been beautiful, soothing and clear, like the water that comes out of the tap or the wine that pours out of the bottle, and Baekhyun blinks once, twice, to see that he’s back in The Hidden Pearl. He’s sitting in his usual spot, on the plush velvet chair, and there’s a glass of wine and a small tray of sandwiches in front of him again.

He’s wearing his best suit, the one he likes to wear to impress Jongdae. He turns to look at his reflection through the glass window, to see how his hair is styled and fixes it so every strand is away from his forehead. Jongdae has always said he looks handsome with his hair styled up and out of the way– but then he sees another reflection of another man, one very familiar, and Baekhyun turns back around to see Jongin standing there again, in the same outfit as before with his nametag in place.

“I expected you to be here a little sooner,” Jongin murmurs, smile faint. “Welcome back to your world, Baekhyun.”

This Jongin looks pristine, clean, and much livelier than the one he saw wherever he was. He doesn’t look like he’s on the verge of death, pieces of him scattering only to reappear, and Baekhyun takes the chance to find Jongdae, singing on stage like it’s all he’s wanted to do his entire life. He’s awake and alive and breathing and Baekhyun wants to kiss him, make sure he’s really there right with him.

“You must have questions,” Jongin says next, not moving from his spot. His hair is a dark brown and it looks fluffy, a complete contrast to the mess that was matted down all over his forehead. “While you’re here, I’ll take it as my responsibility to fill you in, answer whatever you want answered.”

“Where are we?” The words spill from Baekhyun’s mouth before he can stop them, returning his gaze to Jongdae and smiling when he catches his stare and smiles back. “Is this real?”

“This is a world you have created,” Jongin answers, and he looks so young, so innocent. “Each of us has created an escape to cope with the outside world, but you’re the only one who’s created an actual world where the people within it feel as real as the outside one. Sadly, this is all an illusion you’ve created. What’s out there,” Jongin says, tilting his head towards the windows, “That’s what’s real.”

Baekhyun frowns, looking all around him, because this can’t be an illusion. He’s felt Jongdae’s touches, have found love and pleasure in all of them, and he’s sure Jongdae’s felt them too. “You’re lying.”

Jongin’s laugh is humorless, almost mocking. “Stare at the other people in this place. Stare at the people walking by. They have no faces, Baekhyun. The only ones who have faces are you, me, and Jongdae.”

Baekhyun doesn’t believe him, but he listens to his words. He looks around, sees the regulars who come to this place as much as he does, and he’s surprised to see Jongin’s right. All these people–all these _children_ –are walking around but they don’t have faces. They don’t have eyes, noses, or mouths and it’s unnerving.

“You’ve created a utopia for yourself, deep inside of your mind, and it takes more energy for me to find you and stay with you.”

“What are those people doing to us?” Baekhyun asks, looking back up to Jongin, still hearing Jongdae’s singing in the background. “What are they doing to Kyungsoo?”

Jongin hums, eyeing him for a moment. “We were all captured at various ages. Some of us were taken in while we fulfilled our military duty to our country. Others were transferred to the facility because they were supposedly ‘unstable.’ We’ve all had some type of power within us, one that’s unnatural to the human world, and we never realized it because we never knew about it until it was too late or our parents kept acting like it was a normal thing.” He hums again, looking away from him and out the window. “There’s no clear reason as to why we have this within us. Some scientists believe we’re like those superheroes with a variable gene while others think the gods blessed us. The scientists who are working on us believe it’s something that can be taken away and multiplied, to create a super army for their use, because we can’t be controlled like they want.”

It’s too much information yet it isn’t enough. Baekhyun doesn’t understand. “Who’s ‘we’? Where are we in their world?”

“Originally, there were twelve of us,” Jongin murmurs. “In Seoul, South Korea. Some of us knew each other before we had been enlisted, but others we became friends through that place. Junmyeon Kim and Chanyeol Park were two of our strongest. They were some of our elementals. The government thought they could be used for their battles against the North, to protect and serve their home country because water and fire are abundant, right? They’re dangerous and deadly, but both of them refused to end innocent lives. Junmyeon would say, ‘What would that do in the end? That’s not what we signed up for.’” He pauses, sighs. “There was Yifan Wu and Zitao Huang too, from China. They transferred here for school with Han Lu and Yixing Zhang when they discovered their powers and used them.”

Baekhyun’s heart speeds, for something else other than love and happiness. “What happened to them?”

Jongin’s smile is wry, pained, so out of place in Baekhyun’s world. “Yifan was shot down when he tried to fly out–that was his skill, flying, you know–and Zitao was tortured until he eventually passed. He could control time, something that was considered valuable, but he couldn’t control it like how the government wanted. They wanted him to stop other people’s times, to freeze them in their spots, but he couldn’t no matter how much they threatened and tortured him.” He looks to him again, eyes reflecting the pain in his smile. “Junmyeon could drown people if he wanted but he chose not to. They didn’t know that until he was pushed to his limits and caused the particles in the air to transform into water when they breathed. He killed nine people before he was shot. Chanyeol just–” He sighs again, shakily. “Chanyeol was bright and so, so lovely. He had such a bright smile and radiated positivity and warmth–”

The way Jongin talks about him makes it sound like–

“Fire is dangerous. Fire is deadly. But Chanyeol had amazing control over it. He could start a campfire with his gaze alone or he could snap it into existent to rest along his palm. The government wanted to use that, to make their way to the North and kill anyone in their path, but Chanyeol refused. He’s one of the toughest to exterminate, a fire so persistent, but I saw the blood. I saw them cleaning his room when they dragged us away.”

“Did you love him?” Baekhyun blurts out, curious, sad, because Jongin’s eyes light up when he talks about Chanyeol. It’s such a pretty sight.

Jongin shakes his head, clears the brightness that settled its way into his expression, and gives him another sad look. “I grew fond of him,” he answers instead, quietly, taking a step to the side away from Baekhyun. “You and he were some of the best friends within the facility. Fire and light go so well together. You can control any source of light, from light bulbs to the actual amount of light streaming into any room. Your smile, your laughter, it always made our days in that place better.”

“Hey,” Jongdae suddenly says, walking up to them. Baekhyun looks over immediately at his call, watches the way he smiles at him, and he smiles back. “You look so handsome today.”

Baekhyun waits for Jongdae to greet Jongin, to look over and give him one of his cute little waves, but he does nothing. Jongdae simply sits in front of him, grabs the glass of wine, and takes a sip of it before grabbing a small sandwich from the tray between them.

“He doesn’t see me,” Jongin explains, as Baekhyun chances a glance at him, before joining Jongdae in eating the sandwiches. “In this world, I only appear to you.”

The background music of the club fills the silence between them. Baekhyun can’t stop glancing over at Jongin, who waits patiently for some sort of clue, and he realizes that he can’t really taste any of the sandwiches he’s eating. He can’t taste the bitterness of the wine on his tongue, but he can see the appreciation in Jongdae’s eyes, the way his love lights up his eyes and brightens his smile when Baekhyun reaches out to gently nudge his foot with his own.

“Jongdae doesn’t have much of a voice in the other world,” Jongin divulges quietly, making Baekhyun’s heart skip a beat, shocked for a moment. “He’s screamed so much, Baekhyun. I still don’t know whether he’s damaged it for good or not.”

It doesn’t take long for Jongdae to get up from his seat, to walk over and place a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, and Baekhyun turns his head. He reaches up to grab Jongdae’s hand, soft and warm, and leaves a gentle kiss along his palm. He can feel tears welling up in his eyes, his own utopia slowly falling apart, and he blinks once before looking up to Jongdae, to see concern swirling in his eyes. “I love you,” he whispers, leaving another kiss to his palm.

“I love you too,” Jongdae says softly, confused and worried. “I love you, my handsome man.”

Baekhyun watches as Jongdae smiles, uses the palm with the kisses he’s received from him to cup his cheek, and Baekhyun gets lost in the touch. He leans into it, feels Jongdae gently rub a thumb along his cheekbone, and treasures it before he’s walking away to resume singing. He looks beautiful, even if all Baekhyun can see is his back, the way his suit accentuates his best parts. “Tell me everything else,” he demands quietly, looking to Jongin who looks just as sad as he feels. “What’s going on and what do I need to do?”

They take their time. They stay in the club, where Jongin finally takes the seat in front of him, and Baekhyun listens to everything he has to say. He listens as Jongin tells him about their friends, about the antics he and Chanyeol did together right when they arrived to the facility, and he listens as Jongin goes into detail about each one of them. He tells him more about who have died, Junmyeon, Zitao, Yifan, and Chanyeol, and he tells him more about the one who’s gone missing and is probably dead, Minseok, the one who controls ice. He tells them about who’s still alive–Han who barely made it with the power to control things with his mind and Sehun who’s almost been blinded because of all the tests he’s been under for air.

He listens as Jongin talks about the facility, about the various ways they’ve all tried to escape only to experience death on a different level before being brought back, and he talks about Yixing, the one with the ability to heal any and everything around him but himself. It’s a technique that’s unique, that’s treasured and all kinds of wonderful, but it’s his own punishment.

“Yixing has always been the person to help out anybody whenever he could. He’s a true gentle, kind soul in this world but because of that, he’s trying to push himself to his limits to heal all his friends around him.” Jongin sighs, leans back in the chair and runs fingers through his hair. “That’s why we’re always together in that room. That dark room with cameras. It’s to watch our every movement and see if anything changes with how we act with each other. It gives us the opportunity to actually be in each other’s presence, but it also gives Yixing the opportunity to dance with death while he gives us more life.”

Baekhyun frowns. “Then why doesn’t he refuse to heal us? We can heal fine on our own, right?”

“Because he hates seeing us in pain,” Jongin answers easily enough, though he still refuses to look Baekhyun in the eyes. “He doesn’t know how much pain it causes Kyungsoo though. Do you remember? Kyungsoo fell in love with him while he was healing him. It’s so stupid–cliché, even–but Kyungsoo told me he opened his eyes and saw Yixing in a new light. He realized he was in love with him ever since he protected Yixing from being hit again by some stupid soldier. It just took almost dying twice for him to see that.”

It’s a cute story, one that Baekhyun wouldn’t mind telling again and again, because it makes him feel lighter, happier, compared to everything else happening so far. It explains Kyungsoo’s whispers in that room, the way he held Yixing and kissed him on the forehead, but it also brings back the image of Kyungsoo suffering, trying to break out of the leather and metal strapped around him to keep him in. “Is that why Kyungsoo looks so alive?” he asks quietly, looking over when he hears the music slowly down, the way Jongdae’s voice quiets with it.

“Kyungsoo’s ability is strange,” Jongin says, elaborating with furrowed brows. “His ability is strength and he’s the one who’s needed healing the least. He can hold his own against anybody and anything thrown at him. He’s the one besides you who’s been tested on more times than we can count.”

“Why?” Baekhyun still doesn’t understand.

Jongin shrugs. “Since the beginning of this entire journey, Jongdae has told us you’re the key to getting us out. None of us know why–not even you–but it seems like the government doesn’t know why either.” He stares at him then, studying him. “Truth serums have been used on all of us, as have various torture techniques including those IV bags, but nothing has led to the reason why you’re the key. To be honest, your power of light is unique in itself, but it’s nothing like Han’s or Jongdae’s or even mine.”

Baekhyun feels slightly offended. “What are yours and Jongdae’s powers?”

“Mine is teleportation and before you even ask,” he rushes to say, pointing a finger at him. “I’ve already tried escaping.” He points to his own left upper arm afterwards. “They injected some type of tracker thing in me that prevents me from leaving the place completely. I scatter if I’m outside the walls and none of us know how the hell they came up with the technology for it.” He relaxes back in his seat, sighing. “Jongdae’s is lightning. He can literally fry anyone into a crisp, but whatever those people did to him, it’s worse than anything we could probably imagine. The only thing they can get out of him when the truth serum is used is that you’re important.”

Baekhyun feels helpless, looking back over to Jongdae who’s now stopped singing to drink from a glass of water. “Why? What do I need to do?”

“That’s what we need for you to figure out. We’ve tried waiting, but we’ve been in there for years. We’ve already lost family in there.” Looking back over, Baekhyun notices the way pieces of Jongin seem to disappear before reappearing again. It happens a few times, Baekhyun eyeing each one, before Jongin speaks up again with a tired smile. “Teleportation is my skill. Transporting physically from one place to another is no big deal. Transporting the mind from one person to another takes a little more energy. I’ve built up endurance, but it helps that doing this–trying to find you–makes me too weak for those people to experiment on me.” He laughs then and it’s a little disturbing to see his smile disappear from his face completely only to reappear moments later, still smiling. “I get to talk to all of you somehow without those people finding out.”

It’s strange, how young Jongin looks in here, sitting in that chair with a boyish smile on his face. He doesn’t look anything like that tired, beaten up, man in the other world and Baekhyun wonders how the others looked like before they were all brought into this. He looks back over to Jongdae, to see his precious smile again, only to find out the rest of the club has frozen in place.

“It’s time for me to leave,” Jongin murmurs, eyes closing when Baekhyun looks over to him again. “And it’s time for you to wake up. Please hurry and find out how to get us out. We don’t think Yixing can last much longer.”

And like that, Baekhyun blinks once, twice.

 

His eyelids feel heavy. It feels like there’s something weighing them down, preventing Baekhyun from opening them again, and he struggles as he tries to blink once more, to see what’s going on around him.

There’s a deep ache that flows through him, from the core of his abdomen to the tips of his fingers, and he gasps as he tries to move, to shake the ache off of him. The sound of leather catching reaches his ears before he can feel the restriction and he groans when he realizes he can’t move. He can’t do more than flex his fingers, try to wiggle his toes in his shoes, and he remembers Jongin’s words, the soft smile on Jongdae’s face in his mind.

“Subject zero-zero-four has survived injection meta six,” a woman says. Baekhyun can hear the clacking of her shoes against the floor, the way it’s slow, deliberate, before he feels a hand touching his face again. It should be soothing, gentle, but all it does is cause pinpricks all along his cheek. He whimpers at the sensation. “Vitals are stable. No physical alterations noted. How many fingers am I holding up?”

As if it was magic, the heaviness holding Baekhyun’s eyes closed lifts and he blinks away the blurriness in his vision. The woman in front of him is still wearing the protective face shield, centimeters away from him, but now she’s holding up her free hand for him to see. “Three,” he rasps out, quickly looking away from her to try and find the second woman who was in the room with them.

“Vision intact,” the woman continues. Her hand slips from his face as she takes a step back, observing him as a whole now. “Hearing intact. Touch intact.” She suddenly tilts her head, in the direction to the left of him. “Bring it out.”

Wary, Baekhyun doesn’t take his eyes off of the woman in front of him. But then he smells something–something _good_ –and he only spares a glance to the side to see there appears to be a piece of bread with peanut butter on it. He can smell it, feel the way it coaxes his stomach to growl at the sight and smell of it, and he flinches when the second woman reaches out to nudge it against his lips. He purses them on instinct, trying to investigate the food in front of him some more, but then he hears the woman in front of him click her tongue in disapproval.

“Eat it,” she orders. “Or would you rather starve for another seven days?”

Baekhyun stares at her, trying to search for something misleading, _dangerous_ , in her gaze, but she gives no hint to any ulterior motives. He looks to the second woman who doesn’t even flinch, still holding the piece of bread in front of his lips. It’s like they’ve been trained to show no emotion. Baekhyun opens his mouth.

The first bite takes more energy than Baekhyun can ever remember, wincing as his jaw aches when he opens and closes it to chew, and he eyes the woman holding the food for him. She remains still, watching him, and it’s unnerving as he opens his mouth again and she feeds him.

“Sense of smell intact,” the woman in front of him lists off, Baekhyun cutting his gaze over to her. “Taste intact. Tolerating PO.” Baekhyun doesn’t know what that means, but he lets her talk as he continues to eat what they give him. It’s delicious. “I wonder if you still retained your power,” she muses, before she’s grabbing another syringe. His arm is still hooked up to the empty IV bag, but she detaches the tube from the entry site in his arm. In fact, he doesn’t feel any different except he aches, but that should be normal by now. Right?

He finishes his bread, chewing carefully and swallowing the last bits of it, before he’s licking his lips to get the rest of the peanut butter off. He’s warily eyeing the woman with the syringe, wondering what’s in it, because it’s clear and gives no indication whether it’ll kill him or keep him alive. He flinches when something touches his lip, quickly looking over to see the second woman wiping away the crumbs from his mouth.

“Prepare the glasses,” the woman with the syringe says and Baekhyun watches as the second woman turns away and grabs glasses that looks like something from one’s imagination, thick and rounded, unable to see into the other person’s eyes when they put it on.

Suddenly, there’s another burn spreading from his arm. He looks over to see the woman pulling the syringe away from the entry site still in his arm and he stares at her with wide eyes. Fear thuds in his chest and the only thing keeping him together is the thought of Jongdae smiling, singing, loving. He screams, the burn becoming too much, and it feels like something inside of him is shriveling up, contracting so much, all he can do is try to fight for his life again.

It’s not enough to knock him out, but Baekhyun doesn’t think he wants to go back when he knows everybody he cares about is suffering out here. He wants to see Jongdae. He wants to see Jongin and Kyungsoo and find Chanyeol’s body because he doesn’t have a face to put with the name anymore. But everything Jongin’s told him, the stories about what they’d do when they first came here, even before they arrived, they all sound familiar. They sound like something he would do and hope that Jongdae would just smile and laugh because his happiness is the best thing in the world to him.

He doesn’t even know how much time has passed. All he can see are the lights above them flickering, catches glimpses of the women’s disapproving scowls, and feels more liquid being pumped into him. There are a variety of colors with different effects yet Baekhyun thinks the ones that are clear are the worst of them all. The burn spreads and becomes something worse. It feels like he’s being torn on the inside, every single muscle and tendon, ripped apart only to come back together in some crude reconstruction of what’s considered him.

The only reprieve he gets is when he finally slumps against the board, exhausted, and watches as a bag labeled _Normal Saline_ is attached to his arm instead. This liquid is soothing, relaxing, and Baekhyun waits for the burn to come. But this time, it doesn’t. It continues to flow within him, give him some semblance of strength back, but it’s nothing compared to what he’s lost, to what they all lost.

“Subject zero-zero-four seems to have been unaffected by today’s experiments by ninety-two percent. Compared to previous events, this round is a failure.” Baekhyun frowns at that, as he tries to keep his eyes open, watching the drip drip _drip_ of the fluid into the small container before it flows into his arm. How is this round a failure? “Subject zero-zero-four still retains his monster, as evident by the flickering lights and two minute episode of darkness. The subject will be brought to the maze after bag of saline is completed. We will formulate new serums to test to continue our research.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even want to know what they’re talking about, what else they’ve done to him and the others, but he’s at the mercy of these people. He doesn’t have the strength to fight when another man dressed in black enters the room, unhooks him, and simply tosses him over his shoulder like he weighs nothing. He can feel the blood rushing to his head with every step, feel every jolt of pain that shoots throughout his body with every turn, and he groans when they stop outside a room and he can hear buttons being pushed. There’s a clear bell that rings out before the door is opened and Baekhyun is all but tossed into the room. He grunts at the force, trying to clear his vision enough to see what this man looks like, but when the door slides shut behind him, his vision blacks out.

Baekhyun blinks once, twice, but nothing changes. Complete darkness surrounds him and he scrambles to his hands and knees, moving into a crouch even though his muscles protest, because he can’t hear anything but his own ragged breaths. He doesn’t know what this place is. He tries to sharpen his hearing, to listen for anything other than his own breathing, and he jumps when he hears a click in the distance.

He looks up, trying to make heads or tails of the situation, of where he is, but he feels completely lost. He doesn’t think he’s ever tolerated the dark and he’s proving himself right when panic starts to well up within him, making him breathe faster, scramble for something around him quicker.

There’s another click.

“Subject zero-zero-four, I’m sure you’ve realized another of your comrades have gone missing,” a voice says, this one masculine. Baekhyun doesn’t know where it’s coming from. He can’t focus long enough to bring light into this room. “I’m sure you’ve been wanting to see him again. Make sure he’s alive.”

Suddenly, the air around Baekhyun starts dropping in temperature, slowly. The chill spreads throughout the room, making Baekhyun shiver in the change, and his eyes widen in realization when he remembers Jongin’s words, of Minseok who controls the power of ice.

Immediately, he looks around him, trying to search for the man who’s supposedly his friend, and he gets up with the help of adrenaline beating through his heart, running around and narrowly missing when his shoe almost freezes to the ground with the ice.

“Subject zero-nine-nine is your opponent for this round,” the voice continues to say. “He’s been dealing with a lot recently. Help him relieve some stress.”

With another attack, this time freezing Baekhyun’s leg, he gasps as he falls to the floor in pain. It hurts, with ice spreading up to his thigh, and Baekhyun grunts as he throws a hand out, watches as a beam of light floods the entire room and he can see everything in it. The room they’re in is wide, with a few flimsy metal dividers to act as modified barriers, but right in the center of it all, he can see a man with hands covered in ice. His hair is a dull black, eyes a shimmering ice blue, and Baekhyun remembers his crooked smile, though now it’s out of sadness than sheer joy.

“I’m sorry, Baekhyun,” Minseok whispers, before he reaches up and taps his right temple. Something shoots out across his face, to cover his eyes, and Baekhyun can barely see the shimmering before something falls from his face. It’s a teardrop, one that shatters when it hits the ground, and Baekhyun doesn’t have any more time to think before he’s making the light disappear and he’s struggling trying to run around.

“Minseok,” Baekhyun gasps, as he creates a ball of light in his hand to see where he’s going. He narrowly dodges another attack to his head, ducking and lunging forward to hide behind a metal wall just as he disperses his light. He looks down to his leg, knocks on it, and stares at it fascinated, as he doesn’t feel a thing in it. He touches it again, this time with his fingertips, and bites his lower lip when he feels where the ice ends and his warm body begins. “Minseok, what did they–” He flinches when the ice in his leg suddenly breaks, a golden sheen emitting from it, before he hears another crash and he’s getting up and running again.

Compared to his panicked running, the clicks of Minseok’s shoes are calculated, soothing, as if this entire ordeal is calming for him. It confuses Baekhyun, but when he shoots another beam of light in the direction he thinks Minseok’s coming from, he turns long enough to see Minseok’s entire body turn to ice and the shield in front of his eyes protects him from his light. Quickly, the entire room is flooded in darkness again and Baekhyun tries to think through what he just saw.

Slowly, as if a ticking countdown in his head, Baekhyun can hear Minseok’s steps transform from deliberate to panicked. His breathing quickens, eyes wide as he tries to search for him before running, but then he’s tackled to the ground and flipped until a hand wraps itself around his throat and freezes. It’s too cold, chilling him to his bones, and instinct has him shooting beams of light all around them to hover. It allows him to see the pain in Minseok’s face, to see him leaning down until he can whisper in his ears, and Baekhyun tries to force the blood rushing in them away so he can listen to him the best he can.

“These shields protect us from your light. We won’t get blinded by it,” Minseok rushes. “You need to find another way to–” And suddenly, Minseok freezes his entire body right before electricity from the device on his temple releases bolts of electricity. The entire episode lasts for a long time, almost an eternity in Baekhyun’s mind, but it’s surprising to barely feel any of the electricity in his body. It bounces off of Minseok’s ice, traveling down from his head, but it doesn’t stay on him long enough to reach Baekhyun. Eventually, it stops, and Baekhyun watches as Minseok slowly unfreezes himself, starting with his head. “They torture us, Baekhyun,” Minseok continues to whisper, quickly, glancing over towards the side of the room every few seconds. “They use Jongdae’s electricity to do this to us–”

Baekhyun gasps as Minseok suddenly throws himself off, screaming as his body convulses and electricity surges from the device on his head to the rest of his body. He scrambles over to him, hands hovering as he tries to figure out a way to help him. The only way he knows how is to remove that small device and he grabs it, trying to fight through the pulses in his body, and tugs it off of him. “Minseok!” Baekhyun breathes, staring him up and down before putting his hands on his chest, letting the residual electricity flow through him too. The lights around them dim and Baekhyun spares a glance up to see a reflective panel on the far wall before seeing the cameras all over the room.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Minseok rasps out, body still twitching underneath him. “Tell them,” Minseok breathes, before Baekhyun is releasing wave after wave of light to try and blind everything in existence. It doesn’t do anything for their voices though, so Baekhyun leans down, surprised that he can still see everything clearly even though Minseok keeps his eyes shut.

 

All Baekhyun wants to do is see Jongdae. He wants to see his smile, his eyes, his love but after days of testing, days of fighting against Minseok because he’s the best reflector of light, Baekhyun finds he can’t move more than a finger anymore. He watches as those people wheel Minseok away on a stretcher, much in the same fashion as Yixing all those days ago, and Baekhyun stays awake long enough for the men in black gear to drag him back to that one room where the rest of them are gathered.

He stumbles in, searching for all the people he’s tried to remember more since Jongin’s told him about them, and panics when he doesn’t see Jongdae at all. He meets Jongin’s tired gaze, Kyungsoo’s dead one, and immediately looks up to the cameras and blinds them with an ease that never fails to surprise him. Within seconds, Sehun is following suit with the winds before he’s turning back to the others, watches as they all flinch and barely keep their eyes open because of the light.

“Where is he?” he demands, voice rough, from all the screaming he’s been doing. He realizes belatedly, that Yixing isn’t with them either. “Where’s Yixing?”

“They’re still alive,” Jongin whispers, closing his eyes again and sighing. He’s slumped back against the wall, nothing like the Jongin in his dreams. “I can still talk to them.”

Kyungsoo heaves a sigh of relief, closing his eyes next. “Thank you.” He doesn’t look much different, except for the thin black lines that run up his arms in haphazard patterns, and Baekhyun wonders what they subjected him to, compared to him. He doesn’t ask though. He simply stares, wondering, before Kyungsoo opens his eyes to stare back at him. “Did Jongin jumpstart your brain, then?”

Baekhyun immediately looks to Jongin, who does no more than hum quietly in response. “Possibly,” he whispers, before remembering his time with Minseok. “Minseok is alive,” he confesses, as he looks around the whole room, watches as Sehun’s eyes water before the tears fall though he doesn’t look away from the ceiling, his point of concentration. “We were made to fight– We–”

“That’s normal,” Lu Han rasps out, turning until he’s on his stomach with his head in his arms. They can hear pops resonate throughout the room and Baekhyun wonders if that’s his spine, releasing gas between the joints. “They always make us fight each other, if we’re healthy enough to their standards.”

“At least they’re letting Yixing rest some more,” Kyungsoo mutters, closing his eyes again.

Baekhyun hopes the same for Jongdae, looking over to Jongin who appears to be sleeping. He doesn’t want to disturb him, but Sehun speaks up next, voice soft, broken. “Have I told you I can see your light, Baekhyun?” He looks away, staring towards the wall where they enter. “Someone is coming.”

“It’s too early,” Lu Han whispers, slowly pushing back onto his knees, appearing ready to fight even as he sways and Kyungsoo has to catch him.

Baekhyun isn’t sure. He still doesn’t know how long they’re able to be together but he cuts off his light the moment Sehun stops his winds.

The entrance cracks open before it falls and Baekhyun’s eyes widen as he scrambles onto his feet, rushing forward to catch Jongdae as he’s dumped inside with the rest of them. He looks paler than normal, the blues and blacks have faded to yellows and greens, and Baekhyun can feel his chest vibrating, as if he’s trying to make some sort of sound but nothing comes out. The door closes behind them again and Baekhyun can’t help but immediately light up the room, forgetting to block the cameras until he feels a push in the back of his mind and he’s covering them again with Sehun providing the winds to block out the audio.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun breathes, slowly falling to the floor so Jongdae can rest as much as he can. He’s still barely breathing, barely moving, but Baekhyun can feel his heart beat in his chest when he lays a hand on top of it gently. He looks nothing like the Jongdae in his dreams, but he still wants to protect him.

“No matter how much you want to,” Kyungsoo murmurs, voice solemn, gaze sympathetic when Baekhyun looks up at him. “You can’t protect him in a place like this. You can only hope his strength doesn’t fail him after everything he’s been through.”

Silence falls between them after that. Baekhyun takes to carding fingers through Jongdae’s grimy hair, pushing it away from his face, and leaving gentle kisses along his healing cheeks and forehead. Jongdae doesn’t move through any of it, but Baekhyun doesn’t stop. He doesn’t want Jongdae to forget that he’s out here, that they have friends here hoping he survives with the rest of them. Baekhyun kisses him on the nose, thinking back to Minseok and the shocks he’s survived, and wonders what they do to Jongdae to get that much electricity.

He reaches over, grabs one of Jongdae’s hands, and laces their fingers before placing it on Jongdae’s stomach. Their hands practically sink into his clothes and Baekhyun worries more, leaving another kiss to Jongdae’s forehead, and whispers his love in his ears. He gets lost in him, in trying to figure out a way out of this place, and then he remembers Sehun’s words, kissing Jongdae’s temple gently, before looking to him.

“What did you say, Sehun?” he asks, causing the rest to open their eyes and look at him. Sehun is still staring up at the ceiling, with his lips pursed, but his features soften at his voice. “Earlier.”

“I was waiting to see what the worst would bring of you,” Sehun mumbles, a soft lisp coming out. “The worst almost took Jongdae’s voice. The worst almost took my vision. The worst has Jongin scattering and Kyungsoo watching Yixing die every day. The worst has Han–”

“Sehun, stop,” Lu Han interrupts, voice rough, though Sehun doesn’t react to it at all.

“The worst took your memories of the beginning years, but when I lost most of my vision, I was surprised to see your light. I can see it and that’s why I’m able to wrap my wind around your power.” He pauses, takes in a shaky breath. “I can feel the difference in weight and substance which helped me find it in the beginning, but the longer I searched for it, it was actually pretty easy to find. When you came back and Yixing asked you to, you did something that made me see it so much clearer.” He looks over in the general direction where Baekhyun is, searching. “Whatever you’re doing now, I can see your light.”

Baekhyun doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know what he’s doing differently than before but it’s enough to have the others stare at him, wondering what he’s doing differently too. Jongdae had said he was the key to escaping, but he still doesn’t know how. Well, according to Jongin that is. He looks back to Jongdae, gently cupping his face with a hand. “Jongdae,” he whispers, seeing Sehun turn back up to the ceiling out of the corners of his eyes. “Jongdae, wake up. Help me.”

Jongdae doesn’t. Baekhyun stares, memorizes the features of his face, where his moles are and the way his lips still curl up, even unconscious, again and again, but Jongdae doesn’t open his eyes. He lays limp in Baekhyun’s arms and it would frighten him if he couldn’t feel Jongdae’s shallow breaths, feel his heart beat against his chest underneath his palm. It’s faint, but it’s there and Baekhyun wishes he could give him more life, heal whatever he’s been through so he’ll never have to experience it again. But he can’t and he’d never ask Yixing to heal him in the state he’s in.

Baekhyun stifles a defeated sigh, gently tracing Jongdae’s bottom cracked lip with the tip of a finger. “You can see my light,” he muses, hearing Sehun hum in response, thinking back to the happier images in his mind where it was only him and Jongdae, in their paradise with their house and garden in the backyard. It was such a beautiful place to live.

“But you can’t do anything with it,” Kyungsoo quietly says, almost as if it’s a reminder. “You’ve told us before all you can do with light is dim or bring brightness to the dark. You can’t attack or defend with it.”

“That doesn’t mean he can’t do more with it,” Jongin adds in, looking to all of them. “Obviously, he can, if Jongdae has anything to say about it.”

Lu Han grunts. “And he can’t. He’s been brought to the edge of death more times we can count to keep us alive and the only reason we found out was because you managed to get into his head,” he says, looking to Jongin, before staring at Baekhyun. “You need to figure this out before Jongdae and Yixing die too.”

Baekhyun remains silent for a moment, staring back at him and feeling his heart thud in his chest, before he cuts his gaze back to Sehun. “What about Minseok? Why did they separate him from us?”

“He’s strong,” Kyungsoo answers. “You’d think ice is weak–easy to melt–but he’s a persistent shit and is probably wreaking havoc on them.”

“They took the elementals first,” Jongin murmurs, voice soft and thoughtful. “They were going to take Sehun, but whatever drug they gave him before the next round of experiments blinded him so Minseok fought to take the next spot. Minseok is ice, part of an element, so they took him instead. He’s the oldest, thought it was his duty.”

“It’s easier to understand physical elements than anything to do with the mind.”

Lu Han sounds defeated, but then he’s glaring up at one of the cameras, holding out a hand to it, before Kyungsoo is lunging forward and knocking him to the ground. He’s grabbing onto his outstretched wrist and keeping him pinned and Baekhyun jumps, tries to scoot away from the scene with Jongdae in his lap.

“Han, don’t do this,” Kyungsoo whispers harshly, using what strength he has to stay on top of their friend. “Remember the last time you did this. You took out those cameras and got all of us separated.”

“I need to crush something, Kyungsoo!” Lu Han shouts, thrashing under him. “They took them all!”

Baekhyun watches as Kyungsoo tries to silent Lu Han, to keep him quiet enough so he’s not heard above Sehun’s winds, and he jumps in his spot again when Jongin finally moves from his spot against the wall. He crawls over, past him and Jongdae, and doesn’t stop until he can rest a hand on Lu Han’s head. It stills Lu Han completely, looking up to Jongin with wide eyes, and then he’s relaxing under his soft murmurings. Seconds pass by, minutes, before Kyungsoo is climbing off of their friend, relaxing and slumping back against the wall again as Jongin talks to keep Lu Han calm.

Baekhyun isn’t sure what he’s just witnessed, but he can feel the anger simmering underneath the surface from all of them now. It fills the room, bouncing off of each other, and he gasps when Kyungsoo suddenly slams a fist into the wall next to him. He easily breaks the concrete, a misshapen hole where his fist left its mark, and then Sehun is sending a breeze throughout the room before he’s whispering, “One minute.”

They cut off the light, the winds, and Baekhyun waits with his heart thudding in his ears as they hear the faint footsteps of the people taking them back. Everyone remains quiet and Baekhyun clings onto Jongdae, hoping to keep him safe, because he doesn’t know what they do to him when they’re not together. They’ve each already suffered the worst, according to Sehun. Is there more they can do?

 

In fact, there’s much more they can do. Baekhyun finds this out the hard way, after he’s been pumped full of drugs and more fluids, before he’s competing against humans left and right. There are too many of them, men and women dressed in black, and they have the similar protective eye gear that Minseok had worn the first time they met. They’re all skilled in combat and Baekhyun isn’t sure he’s thankful they don’t have guns on them or not. He might prefer it, a quick and easy ‘out’ compared to all the kicks and punches he suffers, but then he remembers his friends, Jongdae, and he tries to get his vision to help him out.

It feels like everything is moving at hyper speed and Baekhyun’s punches are either a beat too quick or a beat too late. He can’t even throw a leg out, to kick or trip any of them, because then he just topples over and collides with the ground instead. At this point, he’s pretty sure he has a concussion with the way he’s seeing double of everything, but it could also be that there are ten people in the room with him instead of five.

“Subject zero-zero-four still seems to be lacking in offensive strategy,” a voice calls out, making Baekhyun’s head hurt with the echoes. He forces himself to stand up, to try and blink the bleariness out of his eyes. He can only assume those women pumped him full of something akin to adrenaline. His heart is beating way too fast than he thinks is possible in a situation like this. “Continue.”

Baekhyun groans at the command, seeing a blur of black on his left before his right, and he throws his arms up to try and protect his head. A punch lands in his gut before his flank and he collapses to the floor at the force of it. He can’t breathe. He can’t even think straight. All he wants is to see Jongdae alive, blinking and smiling at him again, one last time. Baekhyun grunts when a kick lands in his stomach before they’re backing away again.

“I honestly believe you don’t want to end up like your dead friends,” the voice suddenly says, speaking up, and Baekhyun still has no idea where this voice is coming from or who it is. He struggles to stand, heaving into the ground on his hands and knees. “Do you want a reminder? Perhaps you need to see one of your live ones for motivation.”

Images of Jongdae flash in Baekhyun’s mind and he immediately looks up. He stares at each person surrounding him before he screams. Waves of light emanate from him before rippling out and he uses it as a boost, to stand and run for the nearest person, before throwing a punch at him. He manages to knock him back only for the others to attack him too.

“I wonder which choice did it,” the voice muses.

It lasts for minutes, hours, but when one of their masks falls, Baekhyun goes for them first. He jumps and dodges attacks, trying to run around each person, and when he gets close enough, he tackles him to the ground. He puts his entire weight into it, ensuring the man’s collapse, and he grabs him by the collar, making sure he can’t shove him off easily as he sits on his chest and clamps his arms down with his legs.

“Nobody help him,” the voice calls out, sounding amused. “Let’s see what he does.”

The man underneath him doesn’t flinch. He only stares up at him resolutely and Baekhyun moves his hands one at a time to his neck. He’s not strong enough to choke him and the man knows that. Instead, Baekhyun focuses. His lip curls as he scowls at the unknown man, glaring at him, and he’s not entirely sure what he does, but he imagines lifting a hand, rearing it back as if to punch him. The man doesn’t move but when Baekhyun imagines the punch connecting to the man’s head, his eyes widen before his head suddenly snaps to the side, as if he’s actually been hit.

It catches all of them off-guard. Baekhyun stares at him wide-eyed before looking to the rest of them, watching as all of their expressions change from indifference to concern and confusion, and it’s enough for the man underneath him to gain his senses, to throw him off and rub at his cheek absentmindedly. The adrenaline is starting to wear off, along with whatever else those women injected into him, and he doesn’t know if he has anything left in him.

“What happened, 736N?” the voice asks, sounding just as confused as they all look.

Baekhyun immediately scrambles away from them on his hands and feet, trying to create as much distance between them as possible, and he eyes the one man warily.

“There was barely any strength in it. I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask you if you were fine,” the voice hisses. “I asked you what happened.”

The man looks confused. “He punched me,” he answers simply, looking to the rest of his comrades. It looks like he doesn’t understand, but neither does Baekhyun.

There’s a moment of silence, where they all just stand and stare at each other, and Baekhyun imagines collapsing, finally closing his eyes and sleeping again. His bed they’ve given him is not bad, considering the one time he just slept on the floor, and he’d really like to fall back onto it. Maybe Jongin would come visit him again, with Jongdae.

“Did he collapse?” a woman speaks up, voice soft and light. It’s a complete contrast to how she’s been treating him and it pulls Baekhyun out of his dazed state, to see the woman shaking her head as if to rid something from her hair. “Oh.”

Another beat passes, where Baekhyun stares at her confused, before that voice speaks up again. “Take him back for testing immediately.”

Baekhyun feels his heart skip a beat when the doors open a second later. He panics, his fight-or-flight senses going into overdrive again, but he can’t even do anything against the people taking him away. All the medication circulating his system has already worn off and he struggles as he grips onto these men’s shirts, trying to keep himself upright as they drag him back to that room where those same two women are waiting for him with more questionable liquids than he’s ever seen in his lifetime.

They have to pass by two different hallways than before. Instead of the room labels with number sixty and above, they pass by the ten and twenty hallways. The windows in these hallways are larger, allowing those who pass by to easily look into the room to see if there’s anything different, but Baekhyun hasn’t seen anybody else anywhere except for Kyungsoo in that other experimentation room. It’s like most of these rooms are just for decoration, to give the impression there’s more of them than there actually are, but then they pass by room twenty-two, twenty-one, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen as he sees Jongdae sitting up on the edge of the bed. He’s clearly awake, blinking slowly, but he’s staring at the wall opposite of him. He’s not looking towards the window at all and Baekhyun wants no more than to go in there, envelop him in his arms and tell him that they’re going to get out. Whatever Jongdae wants him to do, he’s going to figure it out and make sure they escape.

 _Look at me_.

Jongdae doesn’t do anything more than stare blankly at the wall. He barely looks alive–his eyes are dull, his skin is pale, and he looks exhausted. The only indications of life Baekhyun can see is that Jongdae is clearly breathing and awake. But then they’re turning the corner, away from Jongdae, and Baekhyun has to look away to see they’re approaching other empty rooms. He sees Kyungsoo awake in room twelve, staring back at him through the window with expressionless eyes, and then he sees Yixing, asleep in ten. He’s curled up on his side, with a hand underneath his pillow, and Baekhyun thinks it’s a nice change, to see something a little more normal in a world that’s anything but.

Baekhyun doesn’t even fight when they bring him into the same room as before, strapping him up to the board and leaving him there. The women are talking together in the corner of the room. They don’t give him any attention and he doesn’t do anything to ask for it. He tries to relax against the board, with it’s very thin mattress pad providing little comfort for his back, but he guesses it’s better than a straight metal board.

“Subject zero-zero-four has shown improvement in the field,” one of the women announces, turning around to eye him. Baekhyun doesn’t flinch anymore, simply stays slumped against his bonds as he stares at them, and watches as the second woman removes her protective eye gear. Well, that’s new. “Or our men and women are fools.”

Well, yeah, that’s different.

Baekhyun eyes the first woman, slightly confused with her choice of words. They never really say anything in regards to themselves, always talking about him instead–subject zero-zero-four–, and it’s definitely strange to hear them talk about something else for a change.

“Let’s induce him,” she continues to say, turning to grab another syringe. It shouldn’t make Baekhyun’s heart race after everything he’s been through by them, but he can’t help it, tensing as she comes closer to him. He eyes the needle in her hand before eyeing the second woman without her mask, and he doesn’t know who to focus on before she’s grabbing his arm and prepping him with alcohol swabs.

The second woman takes a step forward, catching Baekhyun’s attention, and he decides to focus his stare on her instead of the needle that’s probably going to cause him more pain. She’s pretty with lively eyes, face devoid of any marks or scars, and Baekhyun thinks about what she’d look like in the outside world. He thinks about paved sidewalks with antique streetlamps, a couple different restaurants and cafes lining the street, and he thinks about clothing stores, where there are different colored dresses and shirts she’d probably look nice in.

He continues to stare at her, even though he feels a pinch in his arm, and he watches curiously as the woman’s eyes widen in surprise. He doesn’t know why but as he blinks once, twice, he starts to see the paved sidewalks with antique streetlamps. He starts to see the woman in front of him with different clothes, standing outside of a restaurant, staring at a menu on the side of the street.

“Hey, what’s with you?” the first woman asks, Baekhyun looking away from the general direction of the second one. “Hey.” He doesn’t hear a response but if there is one, it’s probably after he closes his eyes and succumbs to the medication once more.

 

Baekhyun can’t stop staring at the Jongdae in his dreams. It’s so strange, knowing what he looks like in real life, to see the complete opposite singing and charming everyone on the stage without lifting a finger. It’s attractive, beautiful, and Baekhyun hopes he can see this Jongdae in real life one day.

“If you keep reverting back to this place, I’m not sure whether I should be happy or upset,” Jongin says, as he walks up to him with a tray in hand. He’s smiling softer now, the tiredness of his eyes showing even in this place, and Baekhyun wishes he could speed things up to where he actually knows what’s going on. “Though, if I’m being honest, I’ve been lingering in this place every now and then wondering if you’d come back.”

“Something happened,” Baekhyun blurts, staring up at him with wide eyes. It startles Jongin into almost dropping his tray on the table, but then he catches himself before sitting in front of him instead. He waits for Jongin to settle before saying anything else. “These people,” he starts off again, quietly. “I was made to fight so many of them. They could’ve killed me but they didn’t.” Jongin looks like he wants to say something, but he stays quiet. “Anyways, I managed to get one of their masks off so I attacked him first. I distracted them with waves of light and when I pinned him down, his head suddenly whipped to the side as if I punched him.”

Jongin frowns, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. “So, you didn’t punch him.”

“No,” Baekhyun confesses, finally leaning back in his chair again. “I thought about it though.” He glances over to Jongdae, who’s smiling at him while singing, and he smiles back. “I’ve thought of a lot of different places and scenarios. I thought about collapsing to the ground while that voice was talking to all of us in that room. I imagined falling back to the floor and one of the women fighting me asked if I collapsed but I don’t think I did?”

Jongin hums, thinking. “Anything else?”

Baekhyun isn’t sure. He imagined that second woman testing on him in a different time and place, but she didn’t verbalize anything strange. It was the first woman asking if she was okay, but he’s pretty sure she was okay. He didn’t do anything to harm her. He shakes his head.

“Sehun says he can see your light,” Jongin muses after a few minutes, as the singing and chatter around the club continue, as a glass of red wine materializes out of nowhere between them. “He’s legally blind. The only things he can see are shadows of where everything is.”

Baekhyun frowns, thinking back to Sehun, staring in the general direction of him but not at him. They all have powers, with unknown origin, and those people call them their monsters. He still doesn’t know the clear reason why, doesn’t think it’s important to ask now of all time, but he guesses it has to do with being completely different in the sense they _do_ have some type of foreign powers within them.

“The power of light isn’t much,” Jongin continues to muse, reiterating all he’s said before. “There’s not much in terms of offense or defense. At most, it can be a distraction.”

Baekhyun shrugs, trying to not let the words affect him so much, because he knows it’s true. Lights are everything visual, what the eye can see and not see, and it’s actually not much in the scheme of things. He can’t light things on fire or create barriers with ice. He can’t punch through light or send it flying around like the winds. He sighs, distracted, as he turns to stare out the windows, sees the faceless people walking about and laughing at something that’s said between them. Light could be a figment of everyone’s imagination and no one would know about it.

Yet, Baekhyun muses, focusing his stare on his own reflection through the window, “light could be a figment of everyone’s imagination and no one would know about it.”

Jongin hums, sounding similarly distracted. “What did you say?”

The longer Baekhyun stares at his reflection, the easier it is to see his fine details. He can see the mole above his lip, his droopy eyes, and the way his hair brushes against his eyes every few moments before reaching up to push it back with his hand. “Light could be a figment of everyone’s imagination and no one would know about it,” he repeats, watching as his mouth forms the words, and then it clicks. He turns to Jongin, eyes wide, before looking around him at the rest of the club. “You said I created this place, right? Why again?”

When he turns back to Jongin, he’s still staring at him confused. “Yeah,” he answers, tilting his head slightly. “You created this world as a type of self-defense mechanism. You and Jongdae arrived to that facility before I did, but he witnessed you going unconscious for long periods of time. You’d wake up on your own and he managed to figure it out that you’d somehow hide in your mind where you wouldn’t be able to feel any of the real world pain you’re actually experiencing. I don’t really know how he found out if you couldn’t remember doing it the last time, but that’s how he explained it the last time he was conscious around us and you wouldn’t wake up.”

Baekhyun doesn’t remember any of that. He doesn’t remember what it was like when he and Jongdae were both conscious at the same time in the real world, but he nods anyways, slowly, trying to work through all the ideas and thoughts flying through his mind. “And the facility doesn’t know about it,” he murmurs, watching as Jongin shakes his head. “An illusion,” he continues, Jongin nodding.

“Yeah, it’s an illusion you’ve created.”

This entire place is a figment of his imagination, a type of self-defense mechanism for himself, yet nothing is changing the longer he tries to think about it, change it so Jongdae is walking up to him or another tray of food is making its way towards them. It’s a completely stable world of its own and Baekhyun knows.

“What are you thinking?” Jongin asks, but the longer he stares at him, tries to read his expression, the more relieved he looks. Baekhyun smiles.

“I need more time to test it,” Baekhyun quietly murmurs. “But I know of a way to get us out.”

Jongin can only stare at him in confusion, before he’s getting up when Jongdae’s voice quiets and he leaves the stage to make his way towards them. He looks over his shoulder at Jongdae, prompting Baekhyun to do the same, and Baekhyun can’t help but let his heart skip a beat at how beautiful Jongdae is in his suit, lips curled up that little bit more and smiling at him like he’s his whole world. “I’ll let the others know,” Jongin informs, before he’s disappearing completely and Jongdae makes it to him.

“Have I ever told you how handsome you look in that suit?”

Baekhyun laughs, softly, a bit sadly, as he reaches out to grab Jongdae’s hand, to tug him in a little closer so he can kiss his soft palm. It surprises Jongdae, but he smiles anyways. “Every day.”

 

Searing pain wakes Baekhyun up. It starts from his chest, making its way out, and it feels like he’s burning alive. It’s not the first he’s felt this sensation, but it feels like the strongest, the worst, and he can’t tell if he’s screaming in pain or not. He just knows his mouth is open and he’s struggling against the leather straps holding him down. He can even feel something running down his cheeks, blurring his vision as he stares at the ceiling to try and find a constant in his life other than this pain.

“Subject zero-zero-four is awake,” someone says. “Monster is active.”

Baekhyun doesn’t understand what that means. But when he finally looks down, tries to blink away some of the pain behind his eyes, he’s not surprised to see the woman from earlier standing before him with an arm hovering in front of her eyes. She seems to be protecting herself from something, peeking around her forearm and between her fingers every few minutes, and Baekhyun hopes he can somehow blind her through the protective gear on her face.

He focuses, past the fire in his veins, and concentrates on making his light brighter, bright enough to ruin the bulbs above and cause the lights to disperse within the room. It’s only dark for a few seconds, a minute, and Baekhyun can see the woman before him flinching when he illuminates everything once more, as bright as it was before. It causes her to be blinded for a moment and Baekhyun takes the chance to imagine a beach, with crashing waves and swaying palm trees. He imagines the woman in a swimsuit, a dress perhaps, digging her toes into the soft, white sand. He can see it right in front of him, the entire location changing, and he huffs out a breath when he sees the woman stare around her in awe. Her arm lowers and she’s vulnerable.

Without his consent, Baekhyun lets out another scream, one that’s been building in the back of his throat, and his image of the location shatters. The pain is too much, coming in waves now, and Baekhyun shouts as he tries to get out of his binds. He doesn’t realize the woman in front of him is moving again, closer, and he yelps when she suddenly slaps him on the cheek.

“What did you do to me?” she hisses, grabbing his face by the chin and forcing it up. Something sharp slides against Baekhyun’s neck and he gasps, all the pain shooting to that one spot. “Is your monster finally evolving like the rest, you _demon_?” She pushes closer and Baekhyun whimpers when he feels it cut along his skin, from the side of his neck all the way down to his collarbone. “Maybe I should dissect your eyes, your brain, next.”

Suddenly, the door to the room opens and a new voice rings out, one that’s loud, demanding. “Stand down,” the voice shouts and almost immediately, the woman lets go of Baekhyun and steps back.

When Baekhyun chances a glance down, he can feel the searing pain resigning. It allows him to move more, to feel less, and he stares at a person he’s never seen before. It’s a woman, one with a strong presence, and Baekhyun swallows the lump in his throat when he makes eye contact with her. She’s not even wearing any of the protective gear the rest wear, only a simple jumpsuit with her hair in a low ponytail. Who is she?

“Subject zero-two-one says this man is special,” she says, eyeing him carefully. It looks like there’s a gleam in her eyes, one that’s screaming _danger_ right at him. “He seems to be correct with the way this one keeps progressing with each new experiment. He doesn’t even seem to be suffering any terrible side effects like the other ones.”

“Who?” Baekhyun rasps out, before he has a chance to stop himself. He flinches when the other woman moves, arm lifted back as if to hit him again, but the one with the strange outfit stops her with a hand in front of her. He glances back and forth between them before settling on the woman with more power than any of the others before her.

“Subject zero-two-one?” she questions, before her lips tilt up into a smile, amused. “Subject zero-two-one is named Jongdae Kim. He had some nice words to say about ‘Baekhyunnie.’”

The way she says it, voice changing octaves and stressing out certain syllables, makes Baekhyun bite the inside of his cheek. He tries not to clench his fists, to show any indication he’s interested or angry in what she’s telling him, and he focuses on making his own appearance seem calm and collected. He imagines himself standing there, calm, like Kyungsoo before, and he wonders if it’s working. The woman in front of him doesn’t seem affected at all.

“He says you’ve always been special, _pretty_ , when the lights hit you just right. He says ‘Baekhyunnie is special’ and that you are different.” She hums, takes a step forward, stops. “You really haven’t shown any indication. If anything, subject zero-nine-nine has shown improvement, with the right conditions.”

Baekhyun doesn’t want to ask what ‘right conditions.’ He doesn’t want to ask how Jongdae is right now. He doesn’t want them doing anything else to any of the others as long as it’s all focused on him and him only.

He focuses on the way the rays of the light bulbs above hit the woman’s face at different angles, casting shadows and glares where it hits her cheekbones and her eyes. He can see each particle of light, dancing in the air around them, and he stops focusing to concentrate on her instead.

“But so far, you seem to be confusing all my subordinates. It’s intriguing, to say the least.”

Baekhyun stays quiet, unsure if he should speak or not, but the woman continues talking anyways as if he doesn’t have a voice anymore.

“Perhaps, you work best under stressful conditions. You seem to let out your power as a defensive strategy but, even then, your power is weak. It does no more than a distraction and we’ve created guards to counteract that.” She stares at him a moment longer, analyzing him, and then she turns to walk out the room. “Clean him up and bring him to the glass room. Let’s see what else he does.”

When she’s gone from sight, Baekhyun looks to the other woman in the room. She seems to have calmed considerably, no knife-like objects in sight, and he flinches when she turns around again and has a small bottle of alcohol in hand with cotton pads. She does nothing more than reach up to clean his fresh cut but it’s enough for him to hiss, wincing as he turns his head away to avoid seeing how much he’s bled.

He wants to know what this glass room is, what this woman has in plan for him, but at the same time he doesn’t think he wants to know. These people keep putting more drugs in him, physically assaulting him and making him fight when he’s barely able to stand on his own two feet. He’s wary when two men in black gear enter the room minutes later. The only thing he’s thankful for is the way the woman gently covers his new wound with several pieces of gauze and tape.

 

No matter how many times Baekhyun is dragged through these halls, they all still look the same to him. The only difference is the numbers and letters outside each room. He’s taken back through the way he came from, where he fought those group of men and women, but he’s dragged further than that. He comes upon a part of the hallway where the walls of concrete turn to glass and he stares at it confused, stumbling as he tries to stand on his own two feet to see everything clearly.

There are two rooms, one across from each other, but the one that piques his interest is the one on the right where there’s already somebody else in there. The person is lying on his side on the ground, with nothing but the clothes on his back, and Baekhyun looks past him to see that same woman from before sitting behind a large glass panel where the top half is visible. There aren’t any cameras in the room, but it probably doesn’t matter when everything can be seen anyways.

“Let’s see what you do, hm?” she says, when Baekhyun finally enters the room on wobbly legs. He looks from her, casts another cursory sweep across the room to see the men leaving behind him, before landing to the man lying on the ground.

He recognizes the way he’s curled up, like in his dreams when he wakes up first in bed, and he stumbles forward one slow step at a time until he’s rushing and sliding in front of him. His back is turned towards the panel, hopefully blocking their view of the man’s face, and Baekhyun feels like crying when he sees it’s Jongdae, confirms it’s him with a gentle touch to his healing cheekbone. It’s enough to wake Jongdae, for him to finally blink his eyes open, and Baekhyun gasps as he sees Jongdae’s mouth move, his gaze looking around until finally landing on him.

“Baek–” Jongdae whispers, before he falls into a coughing fit. He curls up even more, his voice hoarse and barely recognizable, and Baekhyun can’t stop the few stray tears that fall down his cheeks at the sight. He scoots in a little closer, enough to gently lift Jongdae’s upper body so he can cradle him in his arms, and he lets him get through the coughs wracking his body. Wide-awake, he looks weaker than ever before and it frightens him.

“Hey,” Baekhyun calls gently, quietly. He reaches out to brush some of Jongdae’s hair away from his forehead, wonders how much the people behind him can hear them. “Hey, Jongdae.” He keeps his voice soft, sees how much it brings a smile to Jongdae’s lips. Does he love him in this life too? His eyes sparkle with life compared to when he saw him in his room, and Baekhyun smiles too. “It’s been a while,” he says, watches as Jongdae’s gaze falls to his bandaged neck next. “Don’t worry about it.”

But Jongdae frowns anyways, tries to reach up and touch the edge of it. “Baek,” he mouths, voice barely coming out as a squeak. It makes Jongdae frown harder. “Baekhyun.”

“I’m right–”

Suddenly, Jongdae pushes him. His eyes widen and he falls off of Baekhyun’s lap, rolls until he’s facing the opposite wall, and Baekhyun doesn’t know why until he’s convulsing right in front of him. Sparks of electricity escape his body, dancing all around him, and Baekhyun flinches as one hits his hand, his arm, and his leg. It’s a sharp, stinging pain, but he doesn’t know why Jongdae is doing this. He whips around, looks towards the panel window, and sees the woman staring at him curiously though the man beside her is smiling, amused.

“Baek!” Jongdae screams and Baekhyun wastes no time in getting his hands on him, leaning over his body to see his face and his expression. His heart clenches when he sees tears streaming down Jongdae’s cheeks, his temple, and he gasps as he tries to absorb as much of the electricity as he can. His heart is starting to beat irregularly. He can feel it shortening out and he tries to focus on the light particles of the electricity.

“Can you direct it out, Jongdae?” he whispers, grunts as he crumples in on himself on top of Jongdae. He can hear Jongdae whimper but then he’s slowly straightening an arm out, screaming, as all the electricity dancing in his body flies outwards and hits the glass wall in front of them. Baekhyun tries to watch, tries to keep his eyes open, and he focuses on those light particles lingering in the air. He creates an image of he and Jongdae collapsed on the floor and once all the charges wear off, he looks around slowly, over his shoulder, to see the woman still staring at them curiously.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae rasps, voice barely above a whisper, and Baekhyun immediately turns to him. He gently cups his face, wipes the tears still streaming down his cheeks, and smiles at him, breathless. He looks absolutely beautiful when Jongdae smiles back, closes his eyes, and pushes his face that little bit closer to his palm. It looks like he’s saying _I missed you_ , but Baekhyun isn’t sure.

“Hi,” he whispers, trying to keep the image of them collapsed on the ground going. He leans down, slowly, imagines the particles of light bending to his will to create a barrier for them, and kisses Jongdae on the forehead, softly, gently. “You’ve done so much.”

The way Jongdae frowns, more tears escaping him, makes Baekhyun ache in the worst way possible. His mouth opens, as if to say something, but nothing comes out.

“Don’t force yourself,” Baekhyun murmurs, gently wiping his tears away with his thumbs. “Don’t do anything to make your power come out.”

Jongdae shakes his head the best he can, inhaling, exhaling, slowly. He simply lies there, trying to move as close to Baekhyun as he can, but he whimpers when he moves too much. His mouth opens and closes.

“I don’t know if it’ll work,” Baekhyun whispers, trying to talk so Jongdae doesn’t have to at all. He moves a hand up into Jongdae’s hair, gently carding fingers through the damp strands, and watches, as it seems to calm Jongdae immediately. “But I’m trying, Jongdae. You believed in me and I’m so sorry it’s taken so long.”

Jongdae shakes his head again, opening his eyes to stare up at him, but the smile he gives him takes his breath away. He mouths, “it’s okay,” before he’s looking over to the side away from the woman and the man, where his lightning had charred the glass. He doesn’t say anything else, but he looks around him, confused, blinking a few times.

Baekhyun shifts the image in his mind, looking around as he stares at all the light particles in the air, and bends it some more. He makes it match how he thinks he and Jongdae look right now, as he straightens up, before it’s no longer an illusion and he’s looking over his shoulder back at the woman. She’s still staring at them, but this time her expression is empty, nonexistent. She’s eyeing them like bugs on a table.

“Remove the equinox device from subject zero-two-one,” she says. Baekhyun doesn’t look away from her, doesn’t break eye contact, even when he feels Jongdae flinch against him. He holds on tight to him, lets Jongdae move in as close to him as he can. Baekhyun doesn’t know what the equinox device is. “Take him back. Allow him to rest.”

At that, Jongdae freezes. He stops moving against Baekhyun and he has to chance a glance back to see why. Jongdae is staring at the woman too. He looks shocked, in disbelief, and when they hear the sliding doors to the room open, they look over to see one of those women from the experimentation rooms walking over to them. She’s still wearing the pink-tinted shield across her face, but she doesn’t even pay them any mind as she kneels next to them and waits.

They stare at her, watching her every move, which is close to none, and Baekhyun frowns as he turns back around to stare at the woman behind the window. She doesn’t do much but smile, small, distrusting, and Baekhyun speaks, still holding onto Jongdae even as he scoots over that closest bit to the woman and lets her pull up his shirt, “What is your plan?” He turns back around to see what the woman is removing, gasping, when he sees a circular device attached to the middle of his chest. It’s small, barely noticeable, but when the woman touches it, inputs a code Baekhyun doesn’t catch, he grows angry at the sight of three needles retracting from it to allow its clean removal.

Small droplets of blood ooze from the puncture wounds and Baekhyun watches as the woman pulls out packets of alcohol and gauze from her pocket to place on top of it. She secures it with pieces of tape and Baekhyun barely catches glimpses of black and blue lines all over Jongdae’s chest before his shirt is pulled down again.

“This device,” the woman says, diverting his attention back to her. “It’s called the equinox device. It was specifically made and designed with subject zero-two-one in mind. It allows us to control when his power comes out, when it’s subdued, as well as to use against your comrades. Though, I’m sure you’ve already heard of this from subject zero-nine-nine.”

Baekhyun remembers. Minseok had told him to tell the others about it too, that whenever they get shocked, it’s because of Jongdae and his powers.

“But this one–subject zero-two-one–seems to have been correct with his statement that you are special.” She smiles then, appearing satisfied, as she leans back in her chair. “You two will go against each other in a training round of sorts,” she announces. “I want to see your connection, how you would acclimate in an intense situation. I want to see what happens when Jongdae, here, has fully recovered and you are away from them.”

This isn’t a part of the plan. This isn’t anything that Baekhyun could’ve expected to happen and, as he turns to Jongdae with wide eyes, it’s to see him staring back at him with a pleading expression. The tears have long stopped from falling down his cheeks, but he can tell Jongdae looks worried, afraid as if something will happen to him if they separate. The woman next to them hasn’t moved from her spot, still kneeling, still watching them up close.

Jongdae opens his mouth, about to protest to him, but Baekhyun turns away from him first, knowing he doesn’t have the voice to speak yet. “What if the experiment doesn’t go the way you planned? What if I fail?” he asks her, thinking to Minseok and how he hasn’t seen him in a while. He hopes he’s still alive.

The woman doesn’t respond back to him. Instead, she faces the man next to her, talking about something they can’t hear, and Baekhyun can’t help but keep his eyes on her. He tries to figure out what she’s saying because he wants to know what will happen to Jongdae and the rest. He flinches when he feels someone touch his hand. The hand is rough, from years of experience and fighting, and he turns to see Jongdae staring at him. His eyes are wide, worried, and Baekhyun wants nothing more than to pull him close, reassure him with soft kisses and gentle hugs.

“Bring zero-two-one back to his room.”

They both whip their heads to the side, where the woman next to them is still kneeling, and Baekhyun scrambles to stand up with them when the woman easily lifts Jongdae up.

“Zero-zero-four, stay.”

Baekhyun stays rooted in his spot, watching as Jongdae stumbles out of the room with the woman, and he feels helpless. The only time they break eye contact with each other is when Jongdae is finally ushered out of view, eyebrows furrowed and concern flowing off of him in waves.

“How will I know you won’t turn on your word?” he calls back, taking a deep breath, and turning to face the woman. She’s standing now, too, along with the man next to her. She’s expressionless again, simply staring at him as if he’s some new specimen under a magnifying glass. When she smiles, it’s disturbing, causing chills to run up Baekhyun’s spine.

“You should have more trust in me, Baekhyun. Just do as I request,” she says, turning to walk away. Baekhyun whips around at the sound of the door behind him opening again, watching as two men in black gear approach him once more. “After all, aren’t the rest of your friends safe?”

 

Baekhyun wants to fight. He wants to build up his endurance and his strength, to be able to physically fight these people holding them back, but he can’t. All he has is the power of his mind and it’s not enough by himself. He needs Jongin, Lu Han, and Kyungsoo, but he doesn’t know when he’s going to see them again.

Something cold enters his arm and he looks to the side to see a woman injecting something else into the bag of fluids hanging on the pole. This time, he’s lying down on a bed–a stretcher–and he would sigh in relief of the change, if he weren’t so troubled by what this change means. His arms and legs are still bound to the bed, but he’s _comfortable_. He watches as the clear liquid tints blue with the added substance and how it drips slowly into his arm.

“For subject zero-one-two, this reacted adversely,” the woman informs, tapping the little vial that’s hooked up between the bag and the tube running into his arm. “For subject zero-six-one, this reacted in his favor.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know who subjects zero-one-two and zero-six-one are– oh. He frowns, as he watches as the first of the blue enters his arm. Zero-six-one is Chanyeol–was Chanyeol–and he wonders if this is the reason why they killed him. He wonders if Jongin knows what caused him to die, be killed. He wonders if their families even know about this, if they even still _have_ families outside of this place.

“For subject zero-nine-nine, it didn’t do much for him. I wonder what it’ll do for you.”

“What is it?” Baekhyun asks before he can stop himself. He freezes, body tensing up minutely, before he simply relaxes and stares up at the woman looking down at him. She’s different from the other women who have experimented on him, but she still wears the same outfit and protective gear as them. It can’t get much worse than the woman and man using him as a punching bag that one time.

There’s a moment of hesitance before she answers. “It’s a formula we’ve created to see if we can extract your power. It preps your body into a sense of conscious sedation, lowering your defenses completely, before we retrieve more blood samples from you.”

Baekhyun frowns, as he feels his body relax almost completely, second by second. “I don’t think you can remove something we were born with.”

“There are plenty of surgeries in the world,” the woman replies, gaze becoming curious towards him. “If some of the best physicians in the world can successfully perform a complete head transplant, I’m sure some of ours can extract some foreign virus or bacteria from you.”

“What makes you think it’s an illness?” Baekhyun asks, words slowly slurring together. The light particles in the air burn brighter, making him look all around him, as the woman turns around to gather another needle. He can see them dancing in the air, moving together like a wave, and he frowns when he sees the woman walk around to his other side to grab his other arm. “It doesn’t burn.”

“Well, that’s good,” the woman chuckles, cleaning the outside of his hand before inserting the needle, “Don’t all scientists consider unknown things an illness? Something terrible?” Her voice is quiet and she doesn’t look up from her work. “You and your friends have suffered, but this is for the better. This is to protect our country and the world.”

“You are destroying lives for a cause you know you cannot help,” Baekhyun murmurs, finally closing his eyes. “You’re killing young men, because you can’t see we never asked for this. We’re not murderers.”

“Tell that to the one who murdered my girlfriend.”

 

If Baekhyun is barely asleep, toeing the fine line of the deepest of dreams and the surface, he doesn’t see anything around him. He only sees darkness for miles on end and it feels like he’s floating in space. There’s no way to tell what’s up or down so he makes a place for himself.

He imagines a beach, where the sand is of the softest and whitest, where the waves lap gently at the shore, and he imagines Jongdae waiting for him there. He’s sitting on a beach towel, lying on the ground asleep, and it doesn’t surprise Baekhyun to find Jongin in this dream too. He’s shirtless, to match the theme, and his smile is bright when he runs over to him from a nearby palm tree.

“This didn’t take nearly as much time and energy to find you,” he says, staring down at him curiously. When Baekhyun looks down at himself, he’s still wearing a suit. “You might want to change.”

Baekhyun huffs at him but does as he says. He blinks once, slowly, and imagines swim trunks similar to Jongin’s but in blue. “I didn’t know you’d be here,” he says, looking back up to him. “I have a plan, but I need to know if they’re going to use any truth serums on you.”

Jongin frowns, but he shakes his head, looking over to Jongdae. “I don’t think so. They’ve gotten past that when they got that information from Jongdae.” Baekhyun hums. “Why?”

“I’m planning to create a large-scale illusion,” Baekhyun murmurs, looking around only to see it’s the three of them on this beach. “Where’s everyone else?”

“This one isn’t crafted as well as your deepest one,” Jongin answers, looking around with him. “You didn’t have as much time to build this one. I can see Jongdae means a whole lot to you though. He appears everywhere in your head.”

Baekhyun can’t help but laugh, causing Jongdae to open his eyes and stare at him curiously, but all Baekhyun does is smile at him in return, reassuring him with a small wave that everything is fine. When he lies down and closes his eyes again, that’s when Baekhyun turns back to Jongin, confused. “Can he see you in here?”

“Nope,” Jongin quips, though the smile on his face has faded. He stares at him, thoughtfully, before opening his mouth again. “Can you do that? What do you need?”

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be out,” Baekhyun confesses. He toes at the sand underneath his feet, revels in how soft it feels between his toes. He’d like to take Jongdae to the beach one day, when this is all over, if it ever becomes ‘over.’ “But I need you to take everyone out of the facility safely. I need you to transport them to somewhere safe, where nobody can capture them again.”

“Baekhyun,” Jongin interrupts, frowning. “You know I can’t leave the facility. They put a tracker in me. I was declared high risk right when I entered.”

Baekhyun nods, “But do you know _where_ it is? Han can easily remove it from you.”

Jongin sighs, plops to sit down on the sand. “He’s tried, Baekhyun. We’ve tried carving it out, visualizing it and ripping it out, but the second it’s out, they would electrocute all of us and put guards on us twenty-four seven.” He reaches out to play with the sand, creating small dunes between them. “After we stopped trying, a year had already passed before they removed that device from our heads. We gave up.”

There’s a moment of silence between them, where Baekhyun just looks at Jongin’s crestfallen expression, and he sits with him too. He stares at him, lets his gaze roam Jongin’s body, because he doesn’t even know where the tracker is to begin with. “They can’t electrocute you if Jongdae isn’t their source anymore,” he whispers, watching as Jongin’s head snaps up. “I was going to tell all of you that. When I fought Minseok the first time, he told me about where all that electricity was coming from. It came from Jongdae. They put a device on his chest that helped control his powers. Whenever one of you acted out of line, they’d intentionally hurt him to pull his electricity out. That woman said it would transfer through the device and shock whoever was acting up.”

Jongin remains silent, taking in his words, and Baekhyun continues.

“I need you, Han, and Kyungsoo with me though. Han and Kyungsoo are for protection, but I need to know,” he says, emphasizes. “Can you shift someone’s mind _out_ of their body?”

Jongin’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, as he thinks through it. “You mean knock them unconscious?” he asks, fiddling with the sand some more. “I don’t have the physical strength to do that.”

“No.” Baekhyun shakes his head, feels a pull in his mind. “Mentally shift someone’s mind away from their body. The way you can shift your mind and phase it out of your body and into my own and the others. Can you do that to other people?”

Jongin bites his lip, visibly unsure. “I haven’t tried it before. I assume it’s possible, but I have to practically be right on top of the person to do that.” He stares right at him. “Why?”

Baekhyun nods, humming along. “Okay then,” he murmurs, his forehead scrunching the slightest as he concentrates. “I’ve been able to confuse some of the employees with my illusions. They’ve all been on a smaller scale, but to do it on the entire facility is on a whole different level. I need to create the image of chaos, so it’s easier for you to spot the woman in charge. While everyone is running around trying to catch images of us, I need you to teleport right to the woman and shift her mind out so she doesn’t stop any of us.”

“They’re only going to come right back for us,” Jongin says, frowning at him. “None of that is going to work. We’d just be exhausting ourselves. I don’t even know who the person in charge is.”

Baekhyun groans, throwing his hands onto his face. He thought it was a good plan. “There’s a woman wearing a jumpsuit with her hair tied back. She’s in charge of the men in black gear and the women experimenting on us, but I don’t know if she owns this facility. I don’t even know any of these people’s names but she wants Jongdae and I to fight in one of those rooms.” He sighs, leaning back on his hands to stare up at the blue sky. “They should have tapes of us, right?” he muses. “We could expose those. Show it on every news channel.”

“Then we’d be hunted down by someone else,” Jongin argues. “We’re nothing more than harmless young men, but to anybody who’s considered ‘normal’ out there, we’re a threat to their ‘normalcy.’”

This is too much. Baekhyun should’ve thought about this more, but when could he when Jongdae was in his arms, when he was being experimented on and screaming.

“Baekhyun? What are you doing sitting over there?”

At the call of his name, Baekhyun looks over his shoulder to see Jongdae sitting up now, staring at him curiously. He looks like the Jongdae from the deepest realms of his mind. Baekhyun aches to be near him, to touch and kiss him without the fear of pain lingering in the back of his mind. “Sorry,” he calls back, watching as Jongdae pouts at him. “I’ll be there soon. My legs just gave out on me.”

“That’s what you get for not drinking enough water,” Jongdae sings back, teasing, before he’s lying back down. Even in here, Jongdae loves him. Baekhyun feels warm all over before remembering he had a job to do. It’s easy to forget that this isn’t real.

“What about erasing their memories?” Baekhyun suddenly asks, turning back to face Jongin. He jumps in surprise. “If we can’t expose their inhumanity to the world, can we simply silence them? Make them forget about everything and we can disappear, just like that?”

The look Jongin gives him is one of surprise before it falls away to thoughtfulness, staring at him as if trying to figure it out for himself. “That’s also possible,” he muses, before a frown settles on his lips. “But I don’t have any way of erasing the mind. If Zitao was alive, he might’ve been able to do it. Reverse time for himself so we were never captured so it’d change the entire timeline.”

“But he’s not alive,” Baekhyun whispers with Jongin, sighing, as he falls back onto the sand with a _thump_. “There’s no way for you to jump into someone’s memories and erase it or something? Maybe Minseok can freeze some cells or something?”

“Erasing memories is like performing magic, Baekhyun,” Jongin deadpans, though there’s a small smile on his face. Baekhyun doesn’t know why, but he guesses that’s a good thing. “We may have these powers, but we can’t perform magic.”

“Then what are memories?” Baekhyun challenges, before he blinks once, twice, and suddenly he wakes up in the room with the woman hovering over him again. He stifles his groan, frowning in frustration, as the woman leans back and checks his bag of fluids, which is still half-full. “What did you take from me?”

“A few vials of blood,” the woman answers, looking over her shoulder and tilting her head in the direction of the small metal table. There are about six tubes on there, mostly full of his blood, and Baekhyun sighs, looking back over to see her grabbing another syringe. This one is smaller than the previous ones but no less deadly, confusing. “This is to help bring out your power to its full potential,” she explains. “Do you remember subject zero-nine-nine?”

Baekhyun nods, because Minseok is his friend. “What about him?”

The woman smiles, “You didn’t react adversely to this concoction, but you also didn’t react favorably to it. Perhaps, you’re much like him, with your mind malleable more than your body. This little mixture,” she emphasizes by tapping it with a finger, “actually helped subject zero-nine-nine enable his powers to their maximum. This little thing helped him transform his entire body to ice without irreparable damage.”

Baekhyun winces when she sticks him, injects the liquid and feels it burn in his arm. “Then what do you expect it to do to me?”

The woman shrugs, turning back around to check on his blood. “Maybe you’ll turn into a light bulb. That’ll be interesting.”

A scoff leaves Baekhyun’s lips before he can stop himself. “You think I’m just going to light up like Christmas Day?”

“It’d be a nice change compared to all the elementals we’ve been experimenting on,” the woman huffs back. She’s labeling the vials. “At least with you, I won’t get burned or frozen or drowned.”

“Do you realize we only activate our powers because you attack us? It’s human nature, to defend our own lives.” Baekhyun watches as the woman doesn’t even flinch, simply goes about her business before walking over to the side of the room where she puts the vials in a container and sends it off. “If I would attack you right now,” he proposes, watching as she turns to face him curiously, “What would you do first? If I tried to attack you, punch you right in the chest, what would you do?”

The woman doesn’t hesitate, walks over towards him. “I would protect my chest.”

“Everything we do is to protect our vital organs,” Baekhyun reiterates, feeling strange all of a sudden. He looks around, face scrunching in confusion, and bites the inside of his cheek when he can see every single light particle more clearly than before. “Animals–human nature–is all about survival.”

“You sure do talk a lot,” she mutters, grabbing him by the chin to examine him more closely. It makes Baekhyun frown, trying to knock her hand away from him. “You haven’t been one to talk since subject triple zero and zero-zero-one died. Well, according to the reports that is.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know who those numbers are, but he can guess. They have to be Junmyeon, Zitao, or Yifan. “What can I say?” he mumbles, finally shifting his gaze to stare at her. From up close, he can clearly see her eyes despite the protective gear she wears. If he can bend the light waves around them the littlest bit, he’s pretty sure he can give her the illusion they’re somewhere else. “You’re the only one actually talking to me. I miss the company.”

“What a personality we’ve been missing out on,” the woman says with a laugh, letting go of him and taking a step back. She looks amused and Baekhyun can only hope that’s in his favor. “None of your comrades have freely spoken to us like you have.”

Baekhyun’s smile is lopsided, feeling his heart race faster the more he realizes the situation he’s put himself in. “Fear is a powerful incentive to keep someone quiet.”

“And you don’t have fear?”

“Why have fear when you know it’s going to get worse and worse?” Baekhyun questions back, smile falling into something softer, barely there. “The worst that can come is death, but if you welcome it, then why have fear?”

The woman laughs, shaking her head at him in amusement. “Subject zero-zero-four has become fearless. This should please the queen.”

Baekhyun laughs with her, softly, not having the strength to do much more. “And who’s the queen?”

Almost immediately, the woman quiets. She continues to do what she needs to do, checking his vitals every few minutes and making sure his heart rate is okay. He assumes it is. He doesn’t feel any different than when he first entered this room, but he needs to know who the person in charge is and he needs to tell Jongin about it.

“They dictated subject zero-zero-four seems to have poor memory recollection,” she murmurs, lifting her gaze up to stare at him again, from across the room where she’s bent over a tablet. “I thought that was bullshit. None of the experiments they did on you was worse than what they did to zero-two-one. And all his memories are still intact.” But her stare is calculating, unrelenting. “Have you been faking it all this time? There are also reports that some of my coworkers have been put into a false sense of security. They’ve been confused, thinking they’re in a different location than this facility, and the only times they’ve experienced this is in your presence.”

Baekhyun tries to slow his racing heart. He takes slow, deep breaths, tries to quiet the sound of blood rushing in his ears, because they can’t know about the extent of his powers. They can’t try to stop him before he even _tries_ to escape.

“Instead of lighting up like a bulb,” she mentions, walking around the table to take a step closer to him. “I wonder if you’re able to create illusions instead. Use the light to your advantage to create a reality that isn’t there.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even know how to ensure their survival outside of this place. The rest of his friends have already tried to no avail and he holds his breath as the woman takes another step closer to him, before he exhales slowly, trying to expel all his worries in that one breath. “How do you know this isn’t an illusion already?” he asks instead, staring at her, wide-eyed. “How do you know your memory isn’t failing you and this is actually a dream you’ve had in the past?”

The woman scoffs at that. “Memories are only reconnections between neurons in the brain. Once the connection has been made, a new path opens up and will continue to be open as long as we’re alive.” She pinches herself then, on her arm, and winces. “Pain doesn’t exist in an illusion; therefore, this is reality. You are subject zero-zero-four, a man without a name, because you harbor foreign abilities no other human is capable of attaining.”

There’s a pause, where the woman quiets but doesn’t stop staring at him, and Baekhyun knows. This is his chance. “If happiness and joy can be an illusion, why can’t pain? They’re both on the same spectrum, the same scale, but are opposites in extremity. The concept of pain is relative–much like time–and it could exist in an illusion. How do you know I’m not actually tied up? I could be standing right in front of you right now, ready to attack, and you don’t even know.”

It’s clear how the woman panics, staring at him with narrowed eyes, before she’s turning to grab another syringe off of a different table. The color of it is familiar and Baekhyun knows what’s going to happen next. He asked for it, after all. “You can’t keep an illusion up if you’re knocked out,” she mutters, quickly walking over and injecting the medicine into him. Within minutes, Baekhyun feels the burn spread through his body, causing him to clench his teeth before he starts screaming in pain. “We have unlimited access with you.” Baekhyun wants to yell at her, tell her that nothing should happen to Jongdae– _don’t cause him any more pain_ –but he can’t. “Let’s see if you prove as useful as your friend with the ice ability.”

 

Soft music fills the club, creating a soothing atmosphere to those who enter it, and Baekhyun groans as he tries not to punch the closest wall to him. He’s back in the Hidden Pearl, where Jongdae is singing up on stage in his best suit, and Baekhyun looks around the establishment, searching for Jongin. He doesn’t see him immediately and Baekhyun feels like punching the closest window in frustration.

He doesn’t bother calling out for him. Instead, he takes his spot at his usual table, watches as a tray of sandwiches and a glass of wine is placed in front of him within moments, and he sighs as he takes one. “I might as well savor imaginary food if I can’t get the real stuff,” he mumbles to himself, before he feels a slap on his shoulder. It stings for a moment before it subsides and he looks up to see Jongin pouting down at him.

“You suddenly left me in your dream world earlier!” Jongin hisses, though he takes the seat in front of him, wearing a suit this time. He looks nice in one.

“It wasn’t my fault!” Baekhyun hisses in return, kicking him in the shin underneath the table. “Whatever she used on me wasn’t working long enough for me to stay asleep that long.” He heaves a deep sigh, slumping back against his chair. “I was able to get information out of the woman testing me though,” he offers, smiling when Jongin finally drops the pout and smiles at him. “Memories are connections and reconnections between neurons within the brain. If those connections are cut off, then the memories can’t be recollected. In a sense, it’s removing memories until they somehow reconnect those bridges again.”

Jongin remains silent, staring at him thoughtfully, before he nods. “That makes sense,” he murmurs, before he’s leaning back in his chair too. “Doing that on one or a few people shouldn’t be a big deal, but there are tens or hundreds of these people who know about us. We can’t possibly do that on a large scale– How can you possibly achieve going into someone’s brain and cutting off those connections?”

It doesn’t take more than a few moments, where Baekhyun really thinks about all his friends and their powers, before he turns to stare at Jongdae singing on that stage. “Isn’t the brain a bunch of electrical circuits?” he questions, smiling when Jongdae smiles at him. “We need Jongdae.”

“But to do that on a large scale–”

“Then we need to find a connection between all of them,” Baekhyun cuts off, frowning at him. “All of the people I’ve met has had some sort of guard on their face to protect themselves from me. If those devices all connect to one source, that’s our connection point.”

There’s a moment of silence between them, where they simply stare at each other and get lost in their own thoughts, and then Jongin is sighing in defeat, nodding along. “Your mind is never-ending,” he muses, lips tilting up into a small smile. “I hope we’re all strong enough to complete your plan.”

“I hope so too,” Baekhyun murmurs with a smile, finally feeling relieved at having a solid plan in place. He taps his glass of red wine, before taking a sip of it. “I’m already having that woman experimenting on me doubt her view of illusion and reality. It shouldn’t take long for that to spread, I’m assuming.”

“You know, they might kill you for that,” Jongin warns.

Baekhyun shrugs, looking back over to Jongdae again, because he’d do anything for him. “Has Jongdae ever told you he loved me?” he questions, quietly, unsure. “Because I love him, you know?”

Jongin’s voice is soft and fond, sounding so much wiser than his age. “I know,” he whispers. “He hasn’t told me, but it’s clear that he adores you. You’re so very special to him and I hope he gets to tell you that one day.”

Baekhyun hopes so too, watches as Jongdae’s voice quiets and the band takes over. He doesn’t even realize Jongin’s gone until Jongdae walks up to him and Baekhyun takes his hand, to kiss the inside of his palm. “I love you,” he whispers, feeling pain bloom in his heart at how empty this is, because this is only in his mind. “Jongdae.”

Jongdae’s laughter is bright, musical, as he whispers, “Well, I love _you_ , Baekhyun.” And just like that, Baekhyun gets lost in this world and Jongdae, Jongdae, _Jongdae_.

 

It’s all an illusion–Baekhyun knows–but he can’t help doing laundry with Jongdae, sneaking kisses between every few shirts that are tossed in the washer. He can’t help cooking with Jongdae, trying to grill some chicken to go with the noodles they’re boiling in the pot. He can’t help walking around with Jongdae in their backyard, walking through the maze of hedges and appreciating all the flowers in bloom.

It’s all an illusion–Baekhyun knows–but until he can make it a reality, he thinks indulging in it a bit longer shouldn’t cause any harm, in the long run, hopefully.

 

When Baekhyun wakes, it’s to see he’s still in the same room. There’s nobody in there with him, only another bag of fluids on him, and he groans as he tries to stretch his body despite still being tied to the bed. His back and neck ache and his limbs feel stiff. As he tries to flex his fingers, he finds that there’s something clamped onto the tip of his right index finger. It’s hooked up to a machine, along with various wires, and he realizes there are pads all over his chest and head. Together, they all monitor his blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels, but he doesn’t know what the other computer means, where the wires strapped to his head trails off.

He stares at it curiously, watching as the little waves don’t really change much, and he wonders what these people are even looking for. From what he could gather, they couldn’t really tell anything within him is off until he woke up and forgot most of what happened before he fell into that long sleep. It’s nice, though, to be by himself for once. He’s not in his small cell and it gives him time to think some more. He tries to keep his eye on the machine hooked up to his head though, just to see if there happens to be any changes to the wavelengths.

The image itself is mesmerizing, almost putting him in a trance, but he thinks about his upcoming training session with Jongdae. He thinks about Jongin telling the others of his plan, hopes that they understand and can complete everything smoothly, and he thinks about the possibility of getting all of them out of this place alive. He wonders if proper funerals have been held for their friends who’ve already passed. He wonders if he’ll ever remember the good times with all of them.

There’s an echoing in the back of his mind. It’s not the rhythmic beeping of the machines around him, but it’s of footsteps, soft tapping along the floors outside of the room. He has to force himself to look away, to see who’s coming, and is more than surprised to see the woman in the jumpsuit approaching him with a different man at her side. Her jumpsuit is of a different color this time, white.

“Hello there, Baekhyun,” the woman greets, with a small smile on her face. Baekhyun stares at her and tries to keep his emotions under control, so his heart rate doesn’t speed on the machine. “I see you’ve finally woken after four days.”

“Four days,” Baekhyun breathes in shock, searching around the room once more. “What happened to the other woman?”

“I got rid of her,” she answers easily, breaking off from the man to come closer to him and check on his vitals herself. She pushes several buttons, all of them Baekhyun doesn’t understand the importance of, but she continues talking anyways. “You spoke to her and she became unstable. I was half-expecting it and I was half-not,” she confesses, shrugging. “I’ve been wondering how that one had considered you so special, but then my subordinate kept saying something along the lines of reality and fantasy–or was it reality and illusion–and I assume you broke her, in whatever way monsters do.”

Baekhyun frowns at the name, clenching his hands into fists to keep blood circulating through them. “I am no monster.”

“No,” the woman agrees easily, tilting her head down to give him a smile. “You are simply human with a dangerous ability inside of you.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “And what makes you think my ability is dangerous? I hardly call light a dangerous thing.

“No,” the woman repeats. “Light itself isn’t dangerous, but the implication and concept behind it is. Have you thought about that?” Baekhyun hasn’t–not really, anyways–but she continues to explain. “Light can illuminate the darkest of spaces. It can shed truth to the lies. It can bring life to something that’s dying.” She reaches out, to tap him gently underneath his chin. “Like you. You’re dangerous to those you meet and that’s what makes you interesting.”

In all the times Baekhyun has been in situations like these, he still doesn’t understand what these people are talking about. Sure, he knows his power can have multiple meanings to it–that it’s _more_ than lighting up bulbs–but he doesn’t understand how he’s dangerous to others. He can’t even attack with his power.

“Curious, aren’t you?” she asks, smiling wider at him, amused. Baekhyun doesn’t want to give her that satisfaction. “If you’re play against us involves illusions, I doubt you’ll win. You don’t have that much power left in you to do more than run through these halls trying to find your way out. If you’re plan is to blind all of us, you’ve already lost.” She looks up then, towards the bag of fluids slowly running out. “We’ve already injected you with the serum that should open up your power to its maximum. Are you ready for your session?”

Baekhyun doesn’t think he’ll ever be ready to fight Jongdae. But as they unhook him from the IV bag, unstrap him from the bed and allow him to stand and stretch his body, he guesses he has no choice, especially when the woman next to him doesn’t take her eyes off of him for more than one second.

There’s something unnerving about her. It’s in the way she acts with her subordinates, the way she has true superiority amongst them, and it’s in the way she allows him to walk freely right next to her. Her partner is trailing behind them, to keep an eye on him Baekhyun thinks, but other than that, this is the freest he’s felt in a long time. He’s not being dragged to his next destination and he’s not being physically forced to go somewhere he has no idea about. He can’t help but look around, to see he’s made it back into the main part of the facility where the first experimentation rooms are located. The only difference is they take a different turn, before returning to the glass room.

Compared to the first time, Jongdae is in there first, but he’s standing. He keeps staring ahead of him, where the windowed panel is, and Baekhyun can’t take his eyes off of him. He can’t stop admiring his back, see the way that Jongdae looks healthier than he has in days, and he swears he stops breathing for a second when Jongdae turns around and sees him.

“See?” the woman says, sounding pleased with herself, as she escorts Baekhyun personally to the entrance of the room. The doors slide open but the man following them stops Baekhyun from entering with a hand on his arm. “I should warn you, though,” she murmurs, secretive, almost mischievously. “Jongdae, here, has that same device subject zero-nine-nine has to protect himself from your light. The only difference is the littlest of ice particles will start forming around his face before traveling down his body. If you two don’t fight to your maximum capabilities, Jongdae will be frozen solid by the end of the day.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even have enough time to process her words before the man is shoving him into the room. He keeps staring at her, at a loss, before she smiles at him and turns away. She walks around the room, with the man following her, and watches as she makes it to the window panel at the far end with the other man and woman in there. The rest of them look like the rest of the workers they’ve seen and Baekhyun snaps back into place when he catches Jongdae slightly waving at him, a barely back and there motion of his raised hand. “Jongdae,” he breathes, watching as the other gives him a small smile back. But it looks sad, like he knows the conditions they’re in right now.

“Hey, Baekhyun,” Jongdae whispers back. His voice still sounds hoarse, but it’s stronger, louder, than it’s been. His cheeks don’t look so sunken in anymore and his hair looks much softer, fresher, than it was the last time he’s seen him. They have so much to talk about, so much time to make up, but Baekhyun knows. This isn’t the time or place. They may never _have_ the time or place.

“Are you going to give us a timer or something?” Baekhyun calls out, barely taking more than three seconds to stare at the woman behind the glass. “Or we just start and you tell us when it’s done?”

The woman’s laugh reverberates throughout the room, making chills run up Baekhyun’s spine again. “Whenever you’re ready, start.” She doesn’t say anything else and Baekhyun tries to ignore the surprised expression on Jongdae’s face.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae whispers, trails off. He looks uncertain, but Baekhyun tries to reassure him with a small smile, a soft tilt of his head.

“When you’re ready,” Baekhyun offers. He falls into a stance, one where he’s prepared to fight with his fists if necessary, but he knows he doesn’t have much when Jongdae is his opponent. Baekhyun doesn’t have anything to protect against lightning or electricity.

So, he waits. He watches as Jongdae stares at him, eyebrows drawn up in concern, before he takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes. He seems to be steeling himself by doing some slow breathing and then he’s reaching up to his right temple. He taps the same spot Minseok did before, making a tinted guard shoot out over his eyes, and Baekhyun hopes Minseok is okay. “Baekhyun–”

Baekhyun cuts him off with a smile, focusing on pulling his energy of light out from within. “Don’t hold back.”

It’s mesmerizing how Baekhyun can see the change in Jongdae’s eyes, in his entire body posture. Concern shifts to determination and strength and Baekhyun barely has time to react when Jongdae holds a hand out and a bolt of lightning escapes from his palm. It’s the same one Baekhyun kisses in his dreams, but he doesn’t dwell on it any longer, narrowly escaping a bolt hitting him straight in the chest.

He takes to running around Jongdae, trying to find some sort of opening to attack, but electricity itself is a powerful shield. It creates a dance around Jongdae’s back, protecting him from any stray attacks, and Baekhyun curses as he skids to a stop before letting wave after wave of light escape his body to see if that’d do anything. It doesn’t, but it gives Baekhyun the time to catch Jongdae’s worried gaze in his direction before he’s shooting more bolts of electricity at him.

Baekhyun can’t create illusions in here. He can’t use it against Jongdae, no matter how many times he tries to focus on the light particles in the air around them, and he stares at him confused before looking to the back panel. He guesses it’s a good thing though. He doesn’t want them to know what all he’s capable of. Instead, he tries something else. He pulls all the stray particles of light to him, those from Jongdae’s electricity and of the lights in the room, and he compacts them together, tries to make a barrier for him like how Jongdae has for himself.

Within no time at all, a visible light barrier appears in front of him. He can see out of it clearly, but wherever he isn’t looking, there’s golden light blocking his view. He stands there, shocked and confused, before Jongdae is shooting a bolt of electricity at him. He flinches at the crash it makes against his shield, but it doesn’t break apart. It’s sturdy and Baekhyun gapes.

“Baek,” Jongdae murmurs, snapping him out of his daze. It brings him back to the present, where he’s supposed to be fighting the love of his life, and on instinct, Baekhyun throws his arms in front of him. The light disperses from his shield and attacks Jongdae as tiny needles, causing him to yelp and try to create a barrier around himself to prevent any more hits.

There’s a moment where it all fades, the light and the electricity, and they just stare at each other, confused. For all Baekhyun has known, his power was never offensive or defensive. It’s only been a distraction, something to light up the darkness in their lives, and he can tell Jongdae is thinking the same thing too. Whatever happened, whatever was injected in him, it’s done a lot more than he originally thought.

“Very good,” the woman suddenly says, causing both of them to jerk and turn towards her instead. “So far, both of you are cooperating. Continue.”

Baekhyun wants to blast a beam of light into her eyes to stun her forever, but he can’t. Instead, he scowls at her before looking to Jongdae, who’s matching his expression, and then Baekhyun is running again. This time, he’s going straight for Jongdae, pulling all the light particles in the air towards him, and he grunts as Jongdae easily dodges and reaches a hand out to grip onto his arm. Waves of electricity surge through him and Baekhyun falls to the floor, convulses.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae breathes, about to crouch down next to him, but Baekhyun rolls out of the way. His jaw aches from clenching so hard and his muscles feel sore. “Baek.”

“No,” Baekhyun shouts, waves of light escaping him, as the electricity surging through his body subsides. He pants, trying to get air back into his lungs. It’s strange how comforting the light is surrounding him and when he looks up at Jongdae, he’s not even affected by it. “You have to fight me,” he whispers, watching as worry turns to regret. “Fight me. Don’t let them punish you any more.”

Regret slowly turns to anger and Baekhyun jerks when Jongdae suddenly turns towards the panel and shoots a blast of electricity at them. It does nothing but create a loud crash and scorch marks all over the window, blurring half of it from their vision, and Baekhyun stares at him wide-eyed. “I’m going to end up killing you, Baekhyun,” Jongdae shouts, before he’s turning back to him. Baekhyun can’t help but scramble back onto his feet at the rage he sees in Jongdae’s eyes. “This is a fight that is completely unfair. They know how powerful I can be yet they put me in here with you.”

Baekhyun steps back every time Jongdae stalks forward and he doesn’t think as he swipes a hand in front of himself every time Jongdae releases a bolt of lightning towards him. Each time, the sparks break his shield and it barely hits his arms as he tries to block his attack. His heart races and his entire body aches, but he doesn’t know what’s going on with Jongdae.

“I can stop anyone’s heart beat with one strike. I can start it up again much the same way,” Jongdae mutters, hoarse voice slowly clearing the more he talks. “I can cause permanent aches in your muscles, make them contract to how I want without your consent.” Baekhyun gasps as he swipes his hand and ducks out of the way. “I didn’t ask for them to use me to their will!”

Baekhyun swears he stops breathing when a bolt of lightning strikes him in the chest, too late in trying to block it from hitting him. He can feel his heart beat irregularly, his muscles tense and convulse, and he sucks in a breath when he can see stray particles of the electricity breaking off right in front of him, dancing, trying to get his attention. He pulls at them, makes them form something small, similar to the appearance of Jongdae’s attacks, and looks to Jongdae shocked when he realizes what’s going on.

By the smirk on Jongdae’s face, Baekhyun knows he did something right. Everything he says sounds odd, like he’s telling the world all of his secrets, but Baekhyun thinks he understands. He focuses on the particles in front of him, tries to add more weight to it, and shoots it back towards Jongdae. To the untrained eye, it looks like Baekhyun is throwing air at the other but Baekhyun can see the light clearly in front of him, and the way it attacks Jongdae and knocks him back a few steps.

With each attack Jongdae sends him, Baekhyun pulls at the tails of light to create his own to send back to him. It’s a push and pull between them, Jongdae finally running around as much as Baekhyun, and he tries to hide his smile by protecting his face with his arms. He doesn’t convulse as badly as before. He’s able to manipulate the charges the littlest bit, expel what will harm him and keep what won’t, and he looks over his arm to see Jongdae facing away from the panel, facing him, and smiling at him brilliantly.

“They know how powerful I can be,” Jongdae repeats, falling into a stance ready to fight with fists. His smile softens and Baekhyun swears he sees love and affection in his eyes behind the mask. “Yet, they put me in here with you.”

Baekhyun can’t help but laugh, spreading his arms and pulling the rays of light towards him. It’s enough to dim the entire room, creating a large ball of light in front of his chest, and he smiles back at Jongdae, finally feeling free. He wants to tell him he loves him, with his entire heart, mind, and soul, but he refrains. He glances over to the panel, to lock eyes with the woman who looks amused, and sends the ball of light towards her instead. It’s slow, deliberate, but with a clap of the hands, the light bursts. Parts of it return to its original places in the room, but the rest coats the entire panel with a sheen of light, making it hard to see them.

And then he runs forward.

Jongdae lets him come close, to be able to see his eyelashes behind the mask, before he’s ducking and rolling away from him. Baekhyun laughs incredulously at his actions, rushing after him, and it no longer feels like a fight despite how many punches and kicks they land on each other. It feels like a well-practiced dance, one they’ve done multiple times before, and Baekhyun gasps when Jongdae starts involving their powers in it. They show off their strength, what they’re fully capable of offensively, and Baekhyun doesn’t realize they’ve been told to stop until Jongdae suddenly screams, crouching over and holding onto his head in pain.

It takes a full minute for Baekhyun to realize what’s going on before he’s turning on the group behind the window. The sheen of light hasn’t dimmed the slightest bit, but he can see all of their protective eye gear to be able to see through his power. Though, he doesn’t understand when a couple of them start to squint at him. “We’ve been fighting like you requested!” he shouts at them, immediately turning back when Jongdae stops screaming to see what’s happened. When Jongdae’s breathing slows and he looks up, Baekhyun feels his heart slam into his ribcage to see ice fractals radiating down Jongdae’s right temple into his cheek, spreading into his right eye and causing it to close to protect his vision.

“You may not realize your own capacity,” the woman voices out, still sounding amused. Baekhyun doesn’t get it. He can’t stop looking at Jongdae, feeling fear and worry well up inside him at the sight. He can’t do anything to protect him. “But once the effects of the adrenaline coursing through your veins comes to a stop, you will surely collapse. Do you wish to continue?”

Of course Baekhyun doesn’t, but is there really any choice?

He and Jongdae share a look, where all Jongdae does is tilt his head to the side the littlest bit, and Baekhyun catches the way Jongdae winces when the ice pulls too much on his skin. “Why did you inject me with something that supposedly opens my power to its maximum?” he calls back, watching as Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow in confusion at his question.

“I wanted to see how far your power can go,” the woman answers. Baekhyun looks over his shoulder at her, staring at her head-on, and tries to bend the light particles in the air to his will. He tries to shift them, twist and turn, to create the image he wants to expose. “If you want a more detailed explanation though, remove this layer of light on this window. Jongdae, there, will also suffer another–”

It doesn’t take more than a second for Baekhyun to lift his hand towards them. The light disperses almost like glass shattering and Baekhyun turns them in his mind, pulls them towards him, and waits.

“I’m assuming subject zero-two-one is special to you, as well,” the woman voices instead, minutes later, before she’s removing her protective eyewear. “I wonder why.”

“I’ve removed my light around you,” Baekhyun says, keeping his eye on her. “Why did you inject me with a serum that opens my power to its maximum?”

The woman laughs, loud, cheerful, and it’s disturbing. “We like to observe firsthand how far your power is capable of going. We think of it as an opportunity, if you will, to let you experience what you’re capable of doing. We’ve given it to subject zero-zero-one and zero-six-one previously, but they refused to do anything more with it. I requested we work together to find a possibility to reproduce your abilities, but they wouldn’t reconsider.”

Baekhyun turns away at the faint sound of a crackle. He follows the noise, turning until he’s facing Jongdae again, and he furrows his eyebrows at him, confused. He’s facing away from the group within the panel, pulling at the light particles and twisting them until it appears he’s still staring at them, and mouths at Jongdae, “What?”

Jongdae stares at him for a good minute, frowning, before he reaches up slowly for the device attached to his right temple. “Yes?” he mouths back, and Baekhyun smiles at how Jongdae’s frown quickly turns to a pout when he speaks.

“Yes,” Baekhyun continues to mouth, because the panel shouldn’t be able to see what they’re doing right now. He watches as Jongdae taps the device, the guard retracting back into it within seconds, and tries to match the way Jongdae starts to move again, falling into a stance ready to run.

“When we gave the serum to subject zero-one-two, it created an adverse reaction. We had to reverse the effects before concluding he will not be a prime candidate for field work–” Baekhyun frowns at the words, about to look back over to her because _what field work_ , but then he sees the other members of the panel have taken off the device as well. “–to do further testing once we have concluded your experimentation successfully.”

Another crackle in the air makes Baekhyun turn to Jongdae, to see a worried eye staring back at him, and he frowns, unsure of what to do now. Baekhyun turns back quickly, to talk again. “What will determine the successful completion of my experimentation?” He takes a moment to eye each of them. There aren’t any differences in their composure or how they’re staring back at them, and Baekhyun smirks. He lifts his hand behind his back, carefully, slowly, before he shows Jongdae three fingers.

They wait, while the woman pauses and talks some more, before Baekhyun counts down to two. The man next to her leans over to say something, one they can barely hear, and Baekhyun counts down to one. He can hear another soft crackle in the air and he smiles. _Go_.

Suddenly, Baekhyun throws an arm out towards the panel the same time Jongdae spins and blasts a surge of electricity towards the sliding doors. There are loud crashes before glass is breaking and Jongdae finds his way into the electrical circuit that powers the doors. He overrides it, sending the entire facility into darkness, and Baekhyun blinds the five people in the panel with the brightest lights he can muster.

“I’ll see you on the other side, love,” Jongdae says quietly, before he’s running away, and Baekhyun can’t help the feeling of his heart bursting in his chest at the words, making his light burn brighter in return.

He can see the five people panicking within their small box, one of them trying to constantly push something on the dashboard in front of them, but compared to the quietness that surrounds him, Baekhyun can only guess Jongdae was able to fry the device attached to his head.

Within minutes, the lights turn back on but Baekhyun remains in his spot. He starts weaving the particles of lights together, tens at a time, and he creates the image of a broken down facility. He imagines lights hanging out of the ceilings and broken glass everywhere. He imagines random men in black gear and women similar to the ones experimenting lying on the ground, dead with blood surrounding them. He imagines the worst scenes possible as he keeps a close eye on the five in front of them. Some try to remove their eyewear, to try and differentiate if what’s in front of them is real or not, but it doesn’t make a difference, not anymore.

“If this is your version of an optical illusion,” the woman seethes, slamming her fist down on the dashboard in front of her, before walking out of the room. “You will not win.”

Baekhyun highly doubts that, even as real men come rushing to the room. They falter right outside the entranceway, looking around the entire room confused, and Baekhyun can’t help but smile as he pulls in extra light, compacts and mimics it to appear as Jongdae’s lightning bolts, and sends it to each of the men. The light attaches itself to each of their chests before it explodes into a burst of light. It makes the men stumble backwards at a loss, trying to blink their vision back into their eyes, and Baekhyun watches as the woman and those from the panel come up to the room themselves.

“You can’t possibly have this much energy left,” the woman breathes, frowning. She’s staring around the room, profusely blinking to clear the illusion from her eyes, and Baekhyun’s own widen when she suddenly runs for him.

He doesn’t release his hold on his illusions, but he does stumble out of the way when she tries to land a punch on him. He weaves certain aspects of the light around him, to make himself disappear from view completely, and he shudders when she releases a yell of frustration.

“Make sure the other subjects stay in their rooms! Find zero-two-one and _end him_!”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen at the words before he’s quickly focusing his energy on the areas of the hallways he can see. He weaves images of broken debris blocking the pathways before he pulls areas of light to him to create mini bolts of light to attack everyone around him. Nobody sees it coming, but it’s not enough to end a life. The most it does is cause them to fall to the ground in pain before their vision is assaulted once more and he has to jump out of the way when the woman tries swinging her arms in random directions trying to find him.

Sirens suddenly alarm around them, causing Baekhyun to jump in surprise, and he looks around them at the ceilings alarmed. He didn’t even know they had a security system like that.

“That little brat!” she shouts, turning back to her subordinates and trying to navigate her way to them. “I thought we already broke zero-eight-eight! He knows we’ll find him and bring him back!”

Baekhyun wants to laugh in disbelief, surprised Jongin was able to get out of the facility at all, and he works even harder trying to create an intricate landscape for all the people near him. It works easily for them, but for the woman in charge, it’s different. It’s like she knows how to differentiate illusion from reality even if she can’t see it all properly, stumbling around when she thinks she’s about to step on a dead body.

An explosion sounds in the distance before another siren pattern takes place. It causes the lights in the facility to blink red and Baekhyun blinks up at it in confusion before the woman looks around and curses. She tries to run her way out of the broken doors but trips over something, barely catching herself on the shattered edges of the door. She curses again, pulling her hands away to find blood, and Baekhyun would feel remorse if it weren’t for the constant flashes of Jongdae almost dying in his arms.

“So,” Baekhyun says, conversationally, watching as the woman snaps her head in his direction before looking around clueless. He forgot she can’t see him anymore. “What does this siren mean?”

She scowls at him, before searching for something on the ground, and throwing it at him. It misses by a few feet. “You and that monster are dead by the time we capture you,” she threatens.

Baekhyun smiles as he walks towards her, slowly, deliberately. “What’s to say we weren’t dead already when we came here? Do you really consider us monsters?” She’s still searching for things to throw at him before she randomly swings an arm out. Baekhyun narrowly dodges it. “Though, I’ve found out everything really is based on perception–what you _perceive_ of concepts around you. You perceive us to be monsters, based on our unnatural abilities, but we view _you_ as monsters instead, for torturing and killing us. Isn’t that interesting?”

There are more loud noises, bangs and crashes, from down the hallway and Baekhyun takes a moment to look away from the woman in front of him to see what’s going on. What he doesn’t expect to see is Kyungsoo and Jongdae walking towards them before they’re staring at the room in front of them with wide eyes. He can see Jongdae’s jaw drop the slightest bit before Baekhyun drops the illusion and they’re stopping in surprise.

“You,” the woman growls, before Baekhyun’s turning and quickly waving an arm in front of him. His barrier of light protects him from her swing before he’s stumbling backwards trying to prevent getting hit by her and her subordinates.

It doesn’t take long for Kyungsoo to rush forward, to take down the men and women in gear without breaking a sweat, and then all that’s left are more guards rushing towards them and the woman stuck between Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Kyungsoo. Baekhyun immediately makes them disappear from sight, causing the men to stop in confusion as well, and he hums as he creates more bolts of light to attack and blind them momentarily.

Despite the strong façade, Baekhyun can see a small hint of relief in Kyungsoo’s eyes. “I’m guessing he’s getting the rest out, right?” he asks, watching as Kyungsoo and Jongdae nod. “Good.”

“You know we’re only going to find and capture you,” the woman says, trying to stare at all of them cautiously. It’s hard though, when she’s trapped in the middle. “We know who you all are. We know where your families live. We will enlist search parties and issue warrants on each one of you for defecting.”

Baekhyun watches as Jongdae takes a step forward before the woman is turning on him and trying to attack. It does nothing but allow Baekhyun to rush forward and trap her in his arms. He holds onto her tight, trying to move his head out of the way when she tries to knock her head backwards on his, and places a hand over her eyes. “Did you find Minseok?” he asks next, hearing Jongdae’s quiet, “No.” “Where is he?” he demands, making his hand glow with the light particles around them.

“Somewhere you won’t find him,” she grunts, before she’s screaming from how bright the light is in front of her. “He’s ours! You won’t find him!”

Baekhyun frowns before turning to Kyungsoo. “Check his room again then get out of here.”

There’s a moment of hesitance, where Kyungsoo stares back at him worriedly, but then Baekhyun drops the illusion around them and he’s running back where they came from. He easily fights the guards coming at them and leaves the woman for them.

“There’s another room,” Jongdae suddenly calls out, causing Kyungsoo to stop and listen. He looks different, without the device attached to his temple and the color returning to his cheeks. “It’s similar to the one where they threw us in together, but it’s away from our rooms. It’s down a different hallway that blends into the wall. That’s where they kept me when they used me to punish all of you.”

Within seconds, Kyungsoo is running away again and Baekhyun turns to Jongdae, struggling, as he tries to keep his hold on the woman in his arms. They share another look, one that’s of relief and affection, and then Jongdae is reaching out the moment Baekhyun makes them disappear once more.

The woman instantly stills when Jongdae gently cradles the top of her head. His palms rest against her temples as his fingers thread lightly through her hair and Baekhyun removes the light from his hand over her eyes. He tries to move it so he’s out of the way for Jongdae, but then Jongdae is tapping the outside of his wrist with a finger. “Don’t move,” he warns, before a spark lights in his eye and disappears, electricity escaping his hands and going into the woman’s head.

She screams, twitches in Baekhyun’s arms, before she suddenly quiets. Her mouth hangs open as she stills, the electricity disappearing seconds after, and Baekhyun watches as he tries to catch what Jongdae is doing to her. He can’t really see anything, but he can tell it’s difficult by the way Jongdae’s gaze turns unfocused right in front of him.

It takes seconds, minutes, maybe an hour before Jongdae pulls back. The woman in Baekhyun’s arms goes limp and he struggles to keep her up, letting Jongdae grab onto her and gently lower her to the ground. Baekhyun stares at her unconscious form before looking to Jongdae. “Did you do it?” he asks, before he’s looking around to the other men and women lying around them. He lifts their disappearance for a minute to throw the woman out of their group before redoing it again, to only include the two of them.

“I think so,” Jongdae breathes, staring at her a moment longer, before looking to the rest lying around them. “I don’t know how I can do it to every single one of them though. It took forever to find the right neurons and signals to fry and break.”

Baekhyun frowns. It’s not a guarantee that all these workers are wearing those devices meant to protect against him. It’s not even a guarantee that all the workers are even within the building. “Do you know where the security is in this building? Or where this woman’s office is? Let’s destroy anything of us within this facility before leaving and frying whatever we can.” When he turns back to Jongdae, he’s surprised to see him already staring at him. His gaze is soft, though his eye is still shut with the ice. So, he smiles as he lifts up a hand.

He gently touches the ice fractals, watching, as Jongdae doesn’t even flinch, before pulling light to his hand. He lets each particle land on Jongdae’s face to travel underneath each ice particle and, when it covers the entire area, he breaks it. Jongdae yelps. All the ice breaks and falls and Baekhyun feels his breath hitch when Jongdae opens his eyes again. This time, his right eye has a soft golden sheen to it that doesn’t disappear no matter how many times he blinks and Baekhyun thinks he’s in love all over again.

“There you are,” Jongin breathes, appearing suddenly next to them. He looks out of breath, pale, and Baekhyun startles with the realization that he’s sweating profusely before including him in the illusion too. “We found Minseok and took him out. Everyone’s out except us.” There’s blood on the left side of his chest and Baekhyun can’t stop staring at it. “That’s where the tracker was. Han ripped it out after Jongdae fried the room sensors. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Baekhyun says, pulling out of Jongin’s reach. “We need to make sure they don’t come back for us.”

“You couldn’t do it?” Jongin asks, surprised, turning to Jongdae with wide eyes. “I thought you could do it with those weird eye devices.”

“Not everyone has those, Jongin,” Jongdae says. “It’s not a guarantee. I’d kill them.”

There’s a moment of silence between them, where they take the chance to rest, before Jongin is turning and running off in the direction he came from. “Then we’ll have to do whatever else Baekhyun says.” Jongdae immediately follows after him, grabbing Baekhyun’s hand before leaving, and Baekhyun doesn’t hesitate to drop his illusion, trying to save his energy for something that could get worse.

 

They run down hallways Baekhyun remembers being dragged through. They run down hallways where their rooms lie and the doors are wide open. They run down hallways where there are still men and women running about trying to find them and he and Jongdae have to fight them off because Jongin’s too weak to do anything else. They try to not use their powers, knowing Jongdae’s can be fatal. Baekhyun exerts more energy to make it seem like they disappear again as they run through a part of the facility Baekhyun’s never been in before. It seems to be the same for Jongdae, because he has to skid to a stop before turning when he almost runs past Jongin when he branches off again.

“I accidentally teleported myself to this sector when I was first brought here,” Jongin explains through heavy breaths. Parts of him are glitching again and Baekhyun stares at him concerned. “These are where that woman stays when she’s not busy messing with us. There’s a security room around here somewhere and we can take turns checking each room and getting rid of whatever evidence there is around us.”

“I can fry the entire electrical grid too, to the point of irreparable loss.”

Baekhyun grunts when he trips over his own feet. His thighs are aching and his lungs are burning, but he pushes through with the help of Jongdae practically dragging him down the last stretch. There’s an entire hallway of glass doors. They’re all fogged, unable to see through clearly, and Baekhyun watches as Jongdae lets go of him to put his hand on one of the identification panels next to the closest door. Before it can register his handprint, he sends a surge of electricity through it. A chain reaction forms immediately, as the box explodes, before it sends the rest down the hallway into a frenzy too.

The doors all crack open seconds later and Baekhyun takes that as the cue to start searching. He expends his energy to create the image that all the doors appear in place before he starts with the room furthest down the hall. It takes a bit more effort to keep the illusion in place while physically moving freely, but he manages.

The far end rooms don’t have anything but desks and file cabinets. He searches through each one, tossing out files that are meaningless and making sure he’s gone through the entire room with its nooks and crannies, before going to the next one. There are random files of employees and past workers, but it isn’t until Baekhyun hears a scream that he rushes out of the room he’s in. He and Jongdae make eye contact with each other down the hall before they’re running towards each other and searching for Jongin instead.

They find him in one of the middle rooms. He’s on the ground, curled up on his side and breathing harshly, and it looks like there’s something circular on his arm. It pulses blue and Baekhyun immediately looks to the other man behind the desk. He’s someone he’s never seen before, wearing what looks like an expensive suit similar to the one in his dreams, and he panics with the realization this man has _power_.

Quickly, Baekhyun pulls all the light particles he can see around them. He weaves them a few hundreds at a time, trying to conceal their entire presence to this man, but he gasps when all the other does is throw something at him as well. Baekhyun tries to dodge out of the way but it catches on his leg. It pulses blue and waves of electricity surge through him all at once. He screams, falling to the floor in pain, and he can’t help but convulse, making him drop his entire illusion around them.

He can’t hear anything but the static crackling of the electricity in his head, the rush of blood in his ears, and his entire body aches with the surges pulsing through him. He can barely hear Jongdae’s yell, the way a louder crash echoes in the room before the man in the suit is screaming as well, and he and Jongin scream when another wave of electricity goes through them before they can finally slump against the ground.

“Where else did you harvest my power?” Jongdae asks the man, voice low, threatening, but Baekhyun doesn’t have the energy to watch them. It hurts to move his eyes so he keeps his focus on the ground next to them. “Are you the top of the food chain?”

When the man doesn’t do more than grunt, Baekhyun tries to turn. He tries to lie on his back to see what’s going on. It takes seconds, minutes, but when he finally catches a glimpse of what’s happening, it’s to see Jongdae standing in front of him and Jongin with his arm out. The man in the suit is standing stiff behind his desk, but it’s the small, visible surges of electricity bouncing off of him that gives him away.

“Did you know that everything within the human body is basically an electrical circuit? It’s a grid, where each action requires the impulse and electrical signals between systems, so it’s actually easy for me to control you how I want.” Jongdae chuckles softly and walks away from them to go to the file cabinets in the room. “Compared to your physical movements however, I cannot control your verbal and mind capacity. Tell us where our files are and where the security tapes are.”

Baekhyun takes a moment to breathe in deep before he turns his head to stare at Jongin next to him. He’s knocked unconscious, still pale and sweaty as before, and Baekhyun frowns before weaving the light particles to surround him, to encase him in a protective shield because he can’t last much longer. He doesn’t know how they’re going to get out now.

“You won’t get away,” the man breathes, Baekhyun quickly looking to him and wincing when all of his muscles protest with the movement. The other is still stiff but his facial expressions keep changing into one of disdain. “We will find you again. We _will_ use you to enforce our country’s safety.”

Jongdae laughs, twists his hand, so the man can’t speak anymore. “What makes you think this country is North Korea?” He turns to Baekhyun then, hard expression on his face not faltering in the slightest. “Make sure Jongin stays safe, okay?”

Baekhyun wants to ask why, because the only way Jongin will stay safe is if he’s in the hospital, but then someone touches his arm and he looks over, surprised, to see Jongin smiling softly at him. “I’ll tell you Jongdae’s plan,” he whispers, before Jongdae does something and the man is screaming again.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae calls, voice and expression softening as he turns to him, even as the man’s screams can deafen their ears. “If I don’t remember, I love you. Find me again and I’ll love you again. Please.”

Baekhyun’s heart races with the words, eyes widening, and the last thing he sees of him is Jongdae’s small smile and kind eyes. He radiates affection and love and then he disappears. He sees blue wisps and stars and neural connections. He sees something mystical, feels his body turn inside out and sideways, and then he’s falling back onto soft grass.

It’s such a foreign sensation, feeling the grass between his fingers and the soft breeze on his face, but it doesn’t stop him from snapping up. It doesn’t stop him from looking around because Jongdae isn’t here and he doesn’t know where _here_ is. “Jongdae?” he calls out, taking a moment to breathe, before he’s standing up and looking around. “Jongdae!”

“Jongdae isn’t here,” Jongin breathes out, faint, barely heard over the blood rushing in Baekhyun’s ears. “Jongdae– He’s not–”

There’s a moment of silence, where Baekhyun stares at the city in front of him, surprised, but he turns when he doesn’t hear Jongin say anything else. He looks for him, climbing back up the hill they landed on. He didn’t see Jongin when he looked around him but when he gets to the other side of the hill, he gasps. Jongin is on his side unconscious, with a trail of blood running down his nose, and he’s pale, damp with sweat. He doesn’t look good at all and he searches around them some more.

“Jongin,” Baekhyun whispers, when all he sees is that one city in the distance. It’s so far away, but he has to carry him there. He has to get him help. Where’s Jongdae? “Okay,” he mutters, grabbing one of Jongin’s arms to throw across his shoulders. He grunts as he lifts him up, trying his best to keep both of them balanced. _Where are you?_ “I’m getting you some help and you’re going to tell me where the hell Jongdae is so I can go back and find him.”

 

It takes hours for Baekhyun to find help. He stumbles into a city with foreign people, all speaking a language he doesn’t understand, and he tries to mask the severity of their wounds with his light. It doesn’t really do much, but apparently the blood and sweat on them draws attention in the kindest and scariest form.

There are people crowding around them, scaring Baekhyun when they reach for Jongin, and a woman touching his shoulder breaks his concentration on the light surrounding them. It causes them to look as they really are, with sunken cheeks and pale skin, and he flinches when a man starts shouting around him. His arms are flailing about and Baekhyun throws himself on top of Jongin, trying to protect him, because he doesn’t want to use his power on people who look so innocent and caring.

Someone keeps shouting at him and he doesn’t know what’s going on until someone says, “Hospital!” Baekhyun doesn’t know what that is, but then sirens are sounding and it sounds so much like the one in the facility. His eyes widen, searching through the crowd for it, and he almost uses his power, panics, if it weren’t for a young boy gently touching his face. He flinches at the contact but then the siren stops and everybody is moving away. There’s one person in strange clothes, carrying a strange machine, and Baekhyun panics when the woman instantly reaches for Jongin underneath him. He shields him with his body, not sure what this woman’s intention is.

“She will take care of him,” someone says again, in words Baekhyun can understand, and he looks around for the source of the voice. It’s an elderly man, one that’s staring at them concerned, and Baekhyun gasps when he feels someone touch his face again. He instantly slaps the hand away. “Don’t fight them. They will help.”

Baekhyun doesn’t believe that. This woman has the same intentions as those women in that facility. He sees the needles and the tubes for some mask and he panics. He fights them. He escaped to be free and he needs to fight for himself and Jongin. He needs to find Jongdae.

“Son! What are you doing?!”

People gasp, the old man yells, and Baekhyun fights until he passes out from exhaustion with thoughts of finding Jongdae filling his mind.

 

Soft singing lulls Baekhyun into a daze, making him laugh at the giddy feeling, and he smiles as he tilts his head to the side. He’s lying on the couch taking a moment to rest, but there Jongdae is, dancing and singing as he helps to clean the house again. He’s supposed to be picking up stray items, a forgotten book on the table, a discarded sock on the floor, but he’s barely paying attention to what he’s doing.

“That’s a beautiful song,” he mumbles, smiling when Jongdae turns to look at him with amusement dancing in his eyes. He’s so beautiful, inside and out. He doesn’t know what he’d do without him. “Would you care for a dance?”

At that, Jongdae laughs. It’s tinkling and carefree, everything he is, and Baekhyun can’t help but smile wider, because he makes him happy. “Will you get up if I say yes?” he asks in return. He doesn’t move from his spot, but he does wiggle his eyebrows. Baekhyun doesn’t even know what that means.

“Of course,” he answers, already pulling himself off of the couch to sit. His muscles refuse to move much more, so he settles on sitting there, feeling fatigue wearing him down. He pouts, wanting to be near Jongdae again. “Come here,” he whines, making him laugh more.

“Oh, you’ve gotten so lazy,” Jongdae murmurs, though his gaze is fond, affectionate, and he walks over to him anyways. He reaches out with a hand to place on Baekhyun’s shoulder, pushing him back into the couch, and Baekhyun laughs this time when Jongdae simply sits on his lap, with one leg on either side of his hips. “But I don’t mind being in this position either.”

“Of course you don’t,” Baekhyun teases, tilting his head up for a kiss. Jongdae meets him halfway and warmth blooms in his chest. “I love you, you know,” he whispers, humming, before he kisses Jongdae’s chin, along his jawline. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too, Baekhyun.”

And Baekhyun believes him.

 

The squeaking of footsteps wakes Baekhyun from sleep. The first thing he notices is the comfort he’s in, the way he’s lying down comfortably and his head is supported by something soft. There’s a warm blanket over him and the sound of music playing in the distance and it takes a moment for Baekhyun to actually open his eyes. The second thing he notices is the room he’s in. It’s painted a soft blue, comforting him almost, if it weren’t for the fact he notices another IV bag hooked up to his arm.

He panics, breathing quicker and searching around for anybody else quickly, and he flinches when he hears sudden rapid beeping to his left. There’s a monitor hooked up to him where he can read his vital signs and it isn’t until the door opens and a man coming in with a tray of food catches his attention.

“Hey, calm down,” the man says, in a language Baekhyun can understand. “I only brought you food. I figured you’d want to eat after having an empty stomach for so long.” He pulls the cover off of the food and the scent of something far more delicious hits his nose instead of the antiseptics all around him. It smells so much better than bread and peanut butter. “Here. You can feed yourself.” The tray is placed directly on Baekhyun’s lap, before the man is lifting the top half of his bed for him to sit up. “There.”

The food even _looks_ amazing, better than the ones in his own dreams, and he feels heat creep into his cheeks when he hears his stomach rumble. The man in the strange uniform laughs, but before he can leave, Baekhyun looks up to him, opens his mouth. “Where’s Jongin?”

The man gives him a curious look, with an eyebrow raised, but then he’s making an expression of realization. He smiles, making Baekhyun wonder if it’s real or not, if this nonchalance and open expression is real. “Your friend is next door. You can see him after you eat and if you can walk fine on your own. I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

Baekhyun frowns at the answer, but the man is leaving before he can ask anything else. He wants to know where they are, how long they’ve been here, and what’s going to happen now that _this_ happened. Of course, nothing gets answered, but the food he eats is delicious and he finishes it all within minutes.

“Wow, you really were hungry,” the man comments, once he visits him a while later. He takes the tray from Baekhyun’s lap before checking his vitals and pulling the blanket from his body. It frightens Baekhyun, thinking he’s about to be strapped to the bed again, but the man only turns around to set the tray on a nearby table before extending a hand out to him. It’s palm up, very open, and Baekhyun stares at it confused before looking up to the man again. “Come on,” he says, as he grabs the pole with his IV bag next to them. “Let’s take a few steps around the room before seeing your friend.” It takes another moment for Baekhyun to consider his choices. He’s not strapped down to anything right now and nobody’s tried to kill him yet. “We won’t hurt you in here,” the man eventually says, staring at him concerned. “All your electrolytes have been off as well as all your enzymes. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but it looks like you’ve been exerting yourself way too much for way too long. You’re also seriously dehydrated. Though, I’m sure your kidney functions and everything will be fine though, when we can get you eating and drinking more.”

Baekhyun stares at his hand for another moment, before he reaches for it and grabs it. The man helps him out of the bed and guides him around the room, but it isn’t until Baekhyun stops stumbling around that he says anything else. “I don’t know what any of that means,” he murmurs, causing the man to laugh.

“Not very many people do,” he says. They stop slowly, right next to the open window, and Baekhyun stares at the city in front of him. There are tall buildings, small ones too, and lots of people walking the streets. It makes his heart speed, not for the fact he’s in a foreign place, but for the fact that he can clearly see all of their faces. He can see every single one of their expressions, from joy to sadness, and it’s absolutely wonderful. “You seem to be doing fine for someone who hasn’t been awake for a while,” the man comments, curiously staring at him. “It looks like you haven’t seen people in a long time in general.”

Baekhyun wants Jongdae to see this. He wants to see the light shining in his eyes and the natural brightness of his smile. “Not really,” he murmurs, sighing softly when he doesn’t even know where Jongdae is. “I want to see Jongin.”

The man still stares at him curiously, but he nods all the same. He helps Baekhyun turn around and it’s only then that Baekhyun realizes he’s wearing something else other than his grimy clothes. He’s wearing something that exposes his back but he takes comfort in the chill of the room and the way the man instantly moves to his back to tie his dress thing for him. “He actually woke up yesterday,” he says conversationally, guiding him to the next room over. “He was worse off than you. It actually looked like he couldn’t do no more than blink, but he was awake and his brain function was still good.”

Baekhyun frowns at the information. He still doesn’t know what any of that means, but then the man knocks and opens the room. He can’t hear anything but soft crunching and when he enters, turns the small corner, he smiles in relief at the sight of his friend sitting up and enjoying his own meal. Jongin looks so young. His hair is washed and it’s actually a warm, deep brown. His face looks clean and there’s life in his eyes.

“Sorry, sir,” the man calls out, startling Jongin. His eyes are wide when he’s surprised, but they soften when he catches sight of him and the smile that lights up his face is so innocent, nothing like the guy who helped them escape. “You have a visitor.”

“Thank you,” Jongin says. He waits as Baekhyun gets settled in the chair next to him, as the man checks both of their IV bags, before he’s leaving the room with a soft, “I’ll come back to take you to your room,” to Baekhyun. Once the door closes behind him, the smile fades from Jongin’s face. “Hey, Baekhyun,” he greets, glancing at him out of the corners of his eyes, before he’s eating again.

“Jongin,” Baekhyun says in return, softly, entranced in how different everything looks like right now. “They didn’t hurt you, right?” he scans him from head to toe, even though he can’t see anything under the blanket over his legs.

“No, they didn’t,” Jongin answers quietly, licking his lips after. His smile is barely noticeable but it makes Baekhyun smile anyways. “They told me you fought to protect me,” he murmurs. “According to eye witnesses, you staggered your way into the city trying to carry me.” He looks at him then, smile growing wider on his face. “I’m heavy, you know.”

That makes Baekhyun laugh. “You are,” he agrees, though his muscles don’t really feel as sore as he expected them to be. “I’m glad you’re better though.”

“Same to you.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes, where Baekhyun lets Jongin finish everything on his plate and in his cup, and he can’t help but stare out the open window. There are clouds in the sky and it’s such a beautiful day. He doesn’t remember the last time he’s ever seen something so pretty outside of his dreams. He bites the inside of his lip in thought. “Hey, Jongin?” he calls, hearing a corresponding hum in return. “Where’s–”

“Everyone?” Jongin continues. He leans back against his pillows, seems to deflate against them. When he speaks again, his voice is soft, barely a whisper. “Yixing is in Yunnan with Kyungsoo. Han is in Barcelona. Sehun is in Edinburgh and Minseok is in Berlin.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen at the mention of Minseok’s name. “You found him,” he whispers, surprised. Jongin nods and relief works its way into Baekhyun’s chest. But Jongin doesn’t say anything else, just lets the silence fill up the room, and that relief fades for worry to settle in. “What about Jongdae, Jongin? Did Jongdae get out?”

There’s a moment of hesitance where Jongin refuses to look at him, no matter how many times he reaches over to pat his arm, his leg, even when he gets up to get closer to him personally. “Jongin–”

“I don’t know,” Jongin blurts out, finally looking to him with wide eyes. They shine with unshed tears and Baekhyun stumbles backwards into his seat at the sight. He’s never seen Jongin cry before. “Baekhyun, he made me promise him to get you out. He’s been protecting you all this time even though you got us out and I don’t know what happened to him. He said he was going to destroy everything, but there’s nothing on the news about a fallen government facility in South Korea. There’s nothing about missing persons or about us and I know that’s a good thing, but I don’t know what happened to him. I can’t risk teleporting back there. Jongdae said he’d fry me himself if I showed up back there.”

The words strike Baekhyun like one of his small light bolts and he feels like he can’t breathe as his vision blurs and becomes unfocused. They don’t know where he is. Jongdae forced Jongin to take him out and _they don’t know where he is_. “He wouldn’t die, would he?” he whispers, feeling like his heart is ripping apart at the thought. His gaze focuses the tiniest bit, as he tries to stare at Jongin. “Jongin,” he breathes, suddenly feeling short of breath. “Jongin, Jongdae wouldn’t die.”

“He said he was going to fry their entire electrical grid,” Jongin whispers, voice breaking. “He was going to erase all their memories and get out as soon as he can. He said he might lose his memory with how much of his power he was using, because his own power could backfire on him, but I don’t know. He said he wasn’t planning on dying.”

Baekhyun can’t think. He can’t feel or hear anything. He feels numb entirely and he doesn’t know what to do about it. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do without Jongdae. They didn’t even have enough time together. He didn’t get a chance to tell him how much he loves him and would die for him over and over again.

“He said he was going to make his way here when he escaped,” Jongin says, louder, trying to catch his attention. “He plans to come to Almaty and that he’d see you here within a few months. He hardwired this place into his head, so even if his memory supposedly gets erased, then he’ll show up here. Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun can’t move. “Jongdae,” he whispers and slowly, an image of Jongdae appears in front of him, on the other side of Jongin’s bed. He looks so alive, so happy with his bright smile and kind eyes, and he gasps when Jongin reaches over to slap him on the cheek. Jongdae disappears and he looks to Jongin with wide eyes. He thinks he’s crying. “Jong–”

“Baekhyun, don’t use your power here,” Jongin hisses, though his gaze is sympathetic. Baekhyun hates it. He didn’t even know he was using his power. “Baekhyun, go eat some more and sleep. When we settle you in the city, I’m going to London.”

“What?” Baekhyun can’t take anything else. He tries to take deep, calming breaths.

“We have to separate, Baekhyun,” Jongin explains quietly. “Yixing needs the protection and Kyungsoo wanted to make sure he lives. They’re the only exception besides you and Jongdae when he comes back.”

Baekhyun understands. They don’t want to be easy targets if someone comes after them again. But what if they’re all stronger together instead?

Knocking takes them away from the conversation, making both of them look to see who’s entered the room, and for a moment, Baekhyun thinks it’s Jongdae. “Sorry,” the man from earlier says, in the strange, one-colored outfit. “Sir,” he says, nodding towards Baekhyun. “It’s time to go back to your room.”

Baekhyun panics without meaning to. He jumps to his feet, eyes wide, and it startles the man. Baekhyun can see all the light particles dancing in the air and pulls at them. He starts weaving them into thin blankets of images, one after another, but then a touch to his arm snaps him out of his daze. He looks to Jongin, scared.

“They won’t hurt you, Baekhyun,” Jongin says quietly, giving him a soft smile, reassuring. “It’s okay.”

The man doesn’t say anything else, but Baekhyun takes in several deep breaths as he stares at Jongin. He focuses on him, because he can’t think of Jongdae without feeling like his heart is being broken into little pieces.

“Sir?”

Baekhyun takes in one final deep breath, exhales, and turns to him, tries to slow his racing heart. “Okay.”

 

In this place, there isn’t much of a difference between Baekhyun’s dreams and the real world. There are restaurants with delicious foods and drinks and there are grassy fields and beautiful gardens full of flowers. He still sees Jongin and takes the time to listen to random singers on the street. He can see everyone’s faces, from their dimples to the scars on their cheeks, and he really thinks this is the real world, where he’s making some money in a wayward café with Jongin before he’s leaving for another while.

There hasn’t been any word from Jongdae, or from the rest of their friends, but Baekhyun thinks he’s starting to see someone like Jongdae more and more, each and every day. He sees him in the grocery store, walking down an aisle towards him staring at the chips, and he sees him in the adjacent register paying for his items, but he doesn’t do anything about it. He wants to wave, to run to him with open arms, but Jongdae doesn’t meet his gaze and this must be a dream, right?

 

Baekhyun sees him in the streets next, on his way home from work. He takes the scenic route, where he gets to see the flowers blooming in the warm weather, but he swears he sees Jongdae in the midst of it all, with the roses and gardenias. He’s leaning over them, leaning in close to smell them, and Baekhyun thinks he looks beautiful just like that. He looks healthy, with no signs of injuries or dark circles under his eyes. Baekhyun didn’t think such beauty existed. He wishes his power would stop playing tricks on him.

 

Baekhyun stubs his toe on the way to work. He doesn’t see the stray rocks lining the street, because of nearby construction, and he curses as he hops a bit before limping away from the scene. It’s reminiscent of the needles they’d poke him with and it’s strange to think he’s been anywhere else but in his dreams.

“Sorry,” someone says, sounding an awful like Jongdae, and Baekhyun looks up from the ground, where he’s taken to withdrawing himself in the streets. He doesn’t want anyone to recognize him, just in case, but then he sees Jongdae up close trying to bypass him to get into a nearby store. His eyes shine with life and Baekhyun feels the air leave his lungs just like that, breathless, in love.

“Sorry,” he echoes, wondering if that ghost of a touch against his arm is a part of his dreams too. He thought he stopped using his powers long ago.

 

“Wait,” a little girl says, interrupting Baekhyun. It only makes him laugh, the adults around him chuckling with how impatient and aggravated the girl sounds. “So, you’re telling me that the wizard’s power is working against him to make him see the love of his life everywhere when he’s _not really there_? That’s just mean!”

Baekhyun can’t help but smile at her. He adjusts her on his leg, trying to wake it back up from sleep, from the long storytelling. “Well, see, you don’t know that, do you?” he asks, looking to the children in front of him too. “If you don’t know, how would the wizard know?”

“The wizard knows everything!” a young teenager shouts out, but then an argument breaks out between him and the few kids there, making Baekhyun laugh even more.

“Now, now,” he says, trying to calm all of them down with the help of the others there. He waits until everyone quiets and he thanks the little girl on his lap when she tries to shush all of them herself. “I told you this story has a hopeful ending, right?” he asks, looking around the crowd, not even realizing his own smile grows wider the littlest bit. “Do you want me to finish it?”

“Of course!” the little girl shouts and Baekhyun laughs quietly, taking the chance to remind her to be kind and thoughtful to those around her. The girl nods sheepishly, mumbling an apology, but then Baekhyun smiles at her again before he’s looking to their small audience.

“It’s happened a few times,” Baekhyun continues, sounding thoughtful. “Where the wizard keeps seeing his knight in the most random of places. He sees him in the shopping district, he bumps into him at the crosswalk, and he stumbles upon him in the classy restaurant down the street, where the knight is singing softly along to the music playing from the band outside the window.” He smiles then, sad, as he casts another glance at his audience, and locks eyes with a man who looks an awful lot like Jongdae, sitting between two of the children on the floor in front of him. His eyes are wide, curious, but there’s also the hint of something more, something Baekhyun can’t read. “Sometimes, the wizard sees him in this very café,” he whispers, as if it’s a large secret. Within seconds, the children and adults alike look around them, searching for someone who could be this wizard and knight. By the way the young adults keep staring at Baekhyun though, they know and it makes him bite his lip in anticipation. “Sometimes, the knight comes in to listen to these stories. I don’t know why, because this is one that’s difficult to tell, but he comes in, listens, and I fall in love all over again.”

“What?” a young boy gasps, as do some of the adults in the audience. Baekhyun doesn’t know why they seem surprised, but it catches him off-guard when this Jongdae stares at him with his eyebrows furrowed, like he’s confused by the entirety of it, maybe concentrating in what he’s saying.

“But the wizard thinks it’s all an illusion, one that his own mind made up to defend his heart from pain, just like when he was stuck in the dungeon with no way out. He wishes the knight from his dreams would return, that the wizard himself could search with his dragon friend to bring their knight back home.”

There’s a moment of silence, where his audience takes in his words, but then the little girl is tugging on Baekhyun’s shirt. She pulls his attention away from Jongdae, the illusion–ghost–that will forever haunt him, and then she points right at him, mere meters away from them. “Why do you keep staring at that man?”

Baekhyun stills. His eyes widen and he gapes at the little girl on his lap. “What?” he whispers, turning, catching as the kid sitting to Jongdae’s right pokes this Jongdae on the arm. It makes Jongdae flinch, squirming away from the continuous poking, and they can’t poke him if he’s an illusion. He has to be real for them to touch him unless this entire session–his entire new life–is an illusion too. “No,” he whispers, confused, in disbelief, because he’s seen this Jongdae come here every week but they’ve never interacted with anything more than smiles.

“Sir,” one of the young adults call, catching this Jongdae’s attention and making them break eye contact. Baekhyun can suddenly feel the full weight of the girl sitting on his leg, the way that his lungs constrict, unable to breathe in enough oxygen because this has to be real if they’re talking to him. “What’s your name?”

“My name?” this Jongdae says, and he sounds so real. He sounds so confused and cautious and innocent– His memories. He turns back to face him, the corners of his lips tilting up that littlest bit more. “My name is Jongdae.”

Tears spring to Baekhyun’s eyes. It makes his vision blurry, unfocused, and the little girl on his lap is quiet as she reaches up to wipe his falling tears away. He can see the concern on Jongdae’s face, his kindness, and he can’t help but still when Jongdae gets up. He walks towards him with worry in his eyes and the little girl clings onto Baekhyun with her head nestled in the crook of his neck. “Jongdae?” he asks, when he comes close enough and he has to look up to see him.

“Yeah?” Jongdae asks, quietly, and Baekhyun gasps when he reaches out to wipe his tears away. They stare at each other for a minute, two, and then Baekhyun has to close his eyes because he doesn’t want this image to disappear. He wants to burn it into his memories the way those injections burned through his veins. He can’t stop crying, even if Jongdae gently wipes the tears away with his thumbs. The little girl murmurs his name, a soft “Baekhyun,” in worry, and Jongdae echoes it with his own, “Baekhyun?”

“You don’t remember me,” Baekhyun says, feeling his heart break all over again. Everything they’ve been through, Jongdae doesn’t remember. “You don’t remember the fights, the search for freedom. You don’t remember our friends or why you’re here.” His fairytale story is anything but of the wizards, knights, dragons, and dungeons he’s told. The story he told today is one full of illusions and dreams and his mind has always loved to trick him at his worst moments. “Jongdae, I love you. I’ve always loved you, still do. I–”

There’s a moment of silence, where nobody talks, nobody leaves, and Baekhyun feels like he can barely breathe until he feels Jongdae shift against him. His hands loosen against his cheeks, but then the soft, fleeting touch of a kiss against his forehead makes Baekhyun open his eyes. “I don’t yet,” he murmurs, eyes so kind and full with warmth and safety. “But you’re always so captivating, Baekhyun. Every time I come here, I learn something new. I figure out small pieces of life that feel like they belong with me and I never understood it.” He kneels then, so Baekhyun has to look down at him the slightest bit. “I remember bits and pieces, but I guess I was successful in what I set out to do, right? I succeeded? I was the knight in your story?”

Jongdae looks so alive right in front of him. His hands are rough, like he’d been fighting all his life. His arms have faded scars, like he’s been poked with needles over and over again. If he moved the collar of his shirt, Baekhyun’s sure there are burn marks, scars, over his left shoulder from the torture they’ve been through. “I thought you wouldn’t make it,” Baekhyun whispers, feels the little girl thread fingers into his hair at the base of his neck. “I thought you were an illusion this entire time.”

Jongdae laughs. It’s tinkling and whimsical and beautiful. He’s everything Baekhyun has ever wanted and he blinks once, twice.

“Hey, I’m not disappearing this time.”

Thrice.

“Stop that.”

Baekhyun laughs.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/xo_thefirst) :)


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